Ambassador to UN leads fellow envoys on tour of rocket-hit Ashkelon

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon takes fellow envoys from the United Nations to tour the southern coastal city of Ashkelon after it was hit by heavy rocket fire over the weekend during fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The ambassadors see the home of Moshe Agadi, a 58-year-old father of four killed by a rocket that slammed into his home, as well as a school in the city that was damaged.

“We came to Ashkelon in order to strengthen the residents of the south and show the world from up close the aggression of Hamas,” Danon is quoted saying in a Hebrew-language statement from Israel’s mission to the UN.

“The time has come for the Security Council to designate Hamas a terror group that carries out double war crimes and uses its citizens as a human shield, and this will be my next move at the UN,” adds the Israeli envoy, referring to the terror group that rules Gaza.

Andrejs Pildegovics, Latvia’s ambassador to the UN, says the envoys are in Ashkelon “to learn about the damage that terror leaves.”

“We’re all very worried about the results of the escalation [in violence] between Israel and Gaza and are hoping that people will come to the region,” the statement quotes Pildegovics saying.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon (fifth from left) and UN envoys from other countries visit the home of Moshe Agadi, an Israeli man killed by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip that struck his house, in the southern city of Ashkelon on May 7, 2019. (Israel mission to the UN)