More than one hundred workers from the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA) have died in the last month due to intense Israeli bombings against the Gaza Strip in response to the attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on October 7, the organization reported today.
(Read also: Israel accepts ‘military pauses’ of four hours a day in northern Gaza, according to the US.)
“Devastated. The death of more than 100 UNRWA colleagues in one month has been confirmed. Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, support staff,” the commissioner general of the United Nations agency said on X (formerly Twitter). Philippe Lazzarini.
The UN representative added that his organization “is in mourning”, as are the Palestinians and Israelis, and recalled that “to put an end to this tragedy, a humanitarian cessation of hostilities is necessary now.”
According to UNRWA, this represents the highest number of United Nations humanitarian workers killed in conflict in the organization’s history.
Around a third of these workers have died while they were in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli authorities have asked Gazans to move due to the ground campaign they are carrying out in the north of the enclave. Palestinian.
Devastated. Over 100 @UNRWA Colleagues confirmed killed in 1 month.
Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, support staff. @UNRWA is mourning, Palestinians mourning, Israelis mourning. Ending this tragedy needs #Humanitarianceasefire now.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) November 10, 2023
According to the UN, most of them have lost their lives in their homes and with their families, while almost thirty UNRWA employees have been injured.
In light of this tragedy, on Monday, November 13, the United Nations flag will be lowered to half-mast as a sign of respect and mourning in honor of the humanitarian workers who have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip in the last month.
(Also read: ‘You cannot reoccupy the Gaza Strip’: Antony Blinken’s warning to Israel)
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday that when the war in Gaza ends “there will have to be accountability, and we will follow the U.N.’s existing procedures when its personnel die” in conflicts.
EFE
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