Six UN employees among 18 killed in Israeli attack on Gaza school, UN official says

GAZA, Palestine - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Thursday that six of its employees were killed in an Israeli attack on a school it operated in central Gaza.

The six victims were aid workers providing support to those families taking refuge in the school, UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a press statement.

A total of 220 UNRWA staff members in Gaza have been killed since the onset of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last year, Lazzarini said, pointing to a "blatant and continuous disregard for humanitarian workers, buildings and operations" amid the conflict.

"The longer impunity continues, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions lose their importance," he said, urging a ceasefire and accountability.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Thursday in a press statement that it approached UNRWA in an attempt to "obtain names (of the dead employees) and details in order to examine the allegations in depth," but has not received any response from the agency.

"Regarding these allegations, investigations of the IDF show that many of the names published on social media and news channels belong to Hamas terrorists who were involved in terrorist activities against Israeli citizens and IDF forces," it added.

The Israeli army launched an airstrike on Wednesday on a school-converted shelter belonging to UNRWA in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp, in which 18 people were killed. The IDF said later that the target was a Hamas command and control center embedded inside the shelter.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate a surprise attack by Hamas through the southern Israeli border on Oct 7, 2023.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 41,118, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday. - XINHUA