UN staff killed in Israeli attack

(MENAFN) A tragic incident in Gaza on Wednesday left six staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) dead. The victims were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in central Gaza that was being used to house displaced civilians. The school, located in Nuseirat in central Gaza, reportedly housed around 12,000 people, most of them women and children.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) overnight airstrikes also targeted two residential buildings, leaving at least 34 people dead, including 19 women and children, according to hospital officials and the Associated Press.

UNRWA condemned the airstrikes, noting that the incident represented the highest number of deaths among school staff in a single incident since the ongoing conflict began. The agency reported that the school had been hit five times since the start of Israeli military operations in Gaza, which were launched in response to a Hamas cross-border attack on October 7.

In response to the attacks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attacks “unacceptable” and called for an end to violations of international humanitarian law. Guterres' condemnation drew criticism from Israel's ambassador to the UN, who accused the secretary-general of misrepresenting the situation. The ambassador argued that the UN's condemnation ignores the context of Israel's actions in response to terrorism and criticized Hamas for allegedly using civilians as human shields.

Israeli forces have previously attacked schools, claiming that Palestinian militants were using these sites to hide among the displaced population. Hamas has denied these claims, leading to ongoing disputes over the nature and impact of the military actions.

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