UN agency says Israeli strike on aid center in Gaza kills one worker
Wednesday’s incident comes amid growing concern over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
Gaza:
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said one of its staffers was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli attack on a food distribution center in war-torn Gaza.
“At least one UNRWA staff member was killed and 22 others were injured in an attack by Israeli forces on a food distribution center east of Rafah in southern Gaza,” the agency said in a statement.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip earlier said four people were killed in a “warehouse bombardment”.
Wednesday’s incident comes amid growing concern about deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where Israel has launched a military campaign since October with the aim of eliminating the Hamas group.
“Today’s attack on one of the remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes at a time when food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and is turning into famine in some areas,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
He also said the United Nations had shared the coordinates of the facility with the Israeli military on Tuesday.
A UNRWA spokesperson said the facility was used “to distribute much-needed food and other life-saving items to displaced people in southern Gaza”.
Wednesday’s UNRWA statement said at least 165 UNRWA staff have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
“More than 150 UNRWA facilities were affected, some completely destroyed, among them many schools,” it said.
‘How can they bomb us?’
An AFP photographer on Wednesday saw victims of the strike arriving at al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, at least one of whom was identified by others at the hospital as a UN worker.
Witnesses said the strike heightened security fears in Rafah, home to more than 1.5 million people, mostly displaced people, and also disrupted the normally observed Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began on Monday. Hui.
“This is a UNRWA facility, which is expected to be safe,” said Rafah resident Sami Abu Salim.
“Some people had come to work to distribute aid to people in need of food during the holy month of Ramadan. Suddenly, they were attacked by two missiles.”
Hassan Abu Ouda, a displaced person from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, said people had come to the warehouse “to sustain themselves for their daily food.”
He said, “Today is Ramzan.” “How can they bomb us during the month of Ramadan?”
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 31,272 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The ministry says 27 people, most of them children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration due to severe food shortages in Gaza after more than five months of war.
Aid workers say burdensome Israeli security checks on all cargo entering the area slow the delivery of aid, and some trucks are turned away if they are found to contain prohibited items.
Israeli officials say aid is being held up as it piles up on the Palestinian side because there are not enough trucks to distribute it.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)