Man returns Israeli medal over Gaza
A Dutchman honoured by Israel for hiding a Jewish child during World War Two has handed back his medal after six of his relatives were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza.
Henk Zanoli, 91, wrote to the Israeli embassy in The Hague to say he could no longer hold the honour.
He said an Israeli F-16 had destroyed his great-niece's home in Gaza, killing all inside, in the recent offensive.
Zanoli and his mother were awarded the "Righteous Among the Nations" honour by Israel in 2011 for helping to shelter a Jewish child from the Nazis in their family home from 1943-45.
The award is accorded to non-Jews who risked their lives to protect and save Jews during the Holocaust.
Zanoli's great-niece is a Dutch diplomat who is married to Palestinian economist Ismail Ziadah, who was born in a refugee camp in central Gaza.
Zanoli, a retired lawyer, offered sharp criticism of Israel's Operation Protective Edge offensive, warning that such actions could lead to possible convictions of "war crimes and crimes against humanity".
"Against this background it is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel," he wrote in the letter addressed to Israeli ambassador Haim Davon.
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