“The FDIs regret the drawbacks caused,” said the Israeli defense forces, adding that an investigation will take place and the countries involved would be updated in its conclusions.
Diplomats included delegates from the EU, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Russia, China and elsewhere, according to the Palestinian Authority, which organized the visit.
“A visit to Jenin, in which one of our diplomats participated, was dismissed by Israeli soldiers. This is unacceptable,” said French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, adding that France will invoke the Israeli ambassador “to explain.”
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned Israel’s “unlikely bombing” in a statement, and said it was a question of luck that “nothing worse had happened”. The ministry said that the German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul had a telephone call with diplomats who were on the spot and would ask his Israeli counterpart to “clarify the circumstances”.
Belgian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot said that a Belgian diplomat had also been involved in the incident. “Fortunately, he is fine,” he said, adding that “Belgium demands convincing explanations from Israel.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority criticized the incident as a “odious crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces, which deliberately targeted by live fire, an accredited diplomatic delegation.”
