Eleven UN workers killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza

Eleven workers with the UN Palestinian refugee agency have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since Saturday, and five members of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent have also been killed in the conflict, the organisations said on Wednesday.

“We are very saddened to confirm that 11 UNRWA colleagues have been killed since October 7 in the Gaza Strip,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) said in a statement.

It did not specify if they were Palestinian or foreign personnel but said they included five teachers at UNRWA schools, a gynaecologist, an engineer, a psychological counsellor and three support staff.

“Some were killed in their homes with their families. UNRWA mourns this loss and is grieving with our colleagues and the families,” it said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a separate statement that five of its members — four in Gaza and one in Israel — had been killed.

IFRC said that four Palestine Red Crescent paramedics were killed when their ambulances were hit in two different incidents on Wednesday.

On Saturday, an ambulance driver for Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service, lost his life while driving an ambulance to treat the injured, IFRC said.

UNRWA aid nearly 175,500 internally displaced people were sheltering in 88 of its schools across Gaza.

“The numbers continue to increase as air strikes continue from the Israeli Air Force,” it said.

“UNRWA staff are working around the clock to respond to the needs of the displaced in the shelters. However, some are overcrowded and have limited food, other basic items and potable water.”

Established in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides public services including schooling, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

UNRWA said two of its schools had been affected by air strikes, bringing the number of its facilities impacted by the conflict to 20. All the schools it runs across the Gaza Strip remain closed

Reuters