France attack: What do we know about the Annecy knife attacker?

Published

2 years ago

June 9, 2023

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Four young children are in hospital with life-threatening injuries after a knife attack in France earlier today.

Two adults were also injured when a man armed with a knife went into a playground full of children and started stabbing people in the southeastern town of Annecy in the French Alps.

One of the young victims was British. The two wounded adults are thought to be elderly men.

The man, who authorities say is originally from Syria, was detained by police. They say it is not being treated as a terrorist incident.

What do we know about the Annecy attacker?

The attacker is a Syrian national who was granted refugee status in Sweden 10 years ago and had entered France legally, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told a press conference after travelling to Annecy.

He has been named as Abdalmasih H by French media.

He was found with Swedish identity documents and a Swedish driving licence, according to a police spokesman.

Earlier this month he had a demand for asylum in France rejected, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

He also made asylum requests in Switzerland and Italy.

He is 31 and “has one child who is the same age as the children he attacked,” Ms Borne said.

According to French broadcaster BFMTV, he is married to a Swedish woman, but the couple separated eight months ago and his wife has not heard from him for half of that time.

They were studying together to be nurses, BFMTV report.

Ms Borne confirmed he was not known to the French security services, and has no criminal or psychiatric history.

Mr Darmanin said he had certain “Christian religious insignia” on him during the incident.

Police have said he had “no apparent terrorist motive”.

Who was injured in the Annecy attack?

Four children and two adults were injured, police have said.

All four children – including a young British girl – are fighting for their lives.

Two of the children, earlier reported as a brother and sister but who BFMTV report are cousins, are in a life-threatening condition in hospital. They are aged two and three.

The other young victims were a three-year-old British girl, BFMTV report, and a 22-month-old German boy. They are also being treated for life-threatening injuries in hospital, according to an update from a French prosecutor on Thursday afternoon.

One of the victims is Dutch, the local prosecutor added.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said officials are travelling to Annecy to assist the British victim’s family.

The two adult victims were both elderly men, one aged 78 and the other 70, BFMTV said. One of them is in a critical condition.

What do we know about the attack itself?

It happened in Le Paquier park, which is between the town centre and the northwestern corner of Lake Annecy.

Sky News international correspondent John Sparks says it “would be very busy at this time of year with tourists and residents out on the streets”.

One witness, who gave his name as Ferdinand, told BFMTV: “He [the attacker] jumped [into the playground], started shouting and then went towards the strollers [prams], repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife.”

Another witness who owns a restaurant nearby, George, said: “Mothers were crying, everybody was running.”

Yohan, who owns an ice cream parlour opposite the park, said: “It’s a place where babysitters and parents take young children to play. I often see around 15 toddlers there in the morning, and the atmosphere is fantastic.”

Another unnamed bystander told BFMTV he saw first aiders working on “little bodies, three or four years old, perhaps”.

This video appears to have been taken by a bystander after the attack.

You can hear what sounds like screaming people in the background.

Two members of the public with their rucksacks appear to try to stop the attacker or slow down his progress.

What have the president and politicians said?

Emmanuel Macron said it was an “absolutely cowardly attack in a park” and the “nation is in shock”.

In Paris, politicians interrupted a debate to hold a moment of silence for the victims, BFMTV reported.

The assembly president, Yael Braun-Pivet, said: “There are some very young children who are in critical condition and I invite you to respect a minute of silence for them, for their families, and so that, we hope, the consequences of this very grave attack do not lead to the nation grieving.”

Speaking at an OECD press conference in Paris on Thursday afternoon, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly described it as a “terrible act of violence”.

“Of course, our thoughts are with the victims and the families and we stand ready to support the French authorities in whichever way we can,” he said.

Confirming the injured British child, he added: “We’ve already deployed British consulate officials who are travelling to the area to make themselves available to support the family.”

Both opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have also offered their condolences.

World

Nine of Gazan doctor’s 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

Published

13 hours ago

May 24, 2025

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Nine of Gazan doctor's 10 children killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis

Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.

Warning: This article contains details of child deaths

Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.

Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.

Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.

In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.

The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.

“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.

“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”

British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack

Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.

Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.

The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.

Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.

‘No political or military connections’

Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.

“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”

He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”

Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

World

UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes

Published

1 day ago

May 24, 2025

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UN's Antonio Guterres condemns 'teaspoon' of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes

The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.

He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.

Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.

The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.

Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.

Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.

Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.

The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.

The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.

The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.

But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.

Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.

The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

World

’12 people’ injured in stabbing at Hamburg train station – as woman arrested

Published

1 day ago

May 23, 2025

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'12 people' injured in stabbing at Hamburg train station - as woman arrested

A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.

An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.

They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.

Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.

There was no immediate information on a possible motive.

The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.

The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.

A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.

Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.