UNRWA staff member killed, 22 wounded in Rafah warehouse strike
At least one staff member from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has been killed and another 22 injured in an Israeli attack on a food distribution centre in Rafah, southern Gaza. “Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
“Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict. The Israeli army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday.” More than 400 people were killed while seeking shelter in UN facilities in Gaza, UNRWA said. More than 150 of the agency’s structures were hit despite having protected status under international law.
“The United Nations, its personnel, premises and assets must be protected at all times … I am calling once again for an independent inquiry into these violations and the need for accountability,” Lazzarini added.
Attack on UN aid centre targeted Hamas commander: Israel military
Israel says its air strike on a UN food distribution centre in southern Gaza killed a Hamas commander after the UN said one staff member was killed and 22 others were wounded. The Israeli military said the strike killed Mohammad Abu Hasna, whom the military described as a Hamas fighter who provided intelligence on Israeli troop positions, and was “also involved in taking control of humanitarian aid and distributing it to Hamas terrorists”.
In a statement, Hamas said Abu Hasna was a member of its police force and condemned his killing as a “cowardly assassination” meant to disrupt aid distribution. Hamas identified another of the five killed as the head of an emergency committee for Rafah, Nidal al-Sheikh Eid.
Blinken comments on Israeli attack on UNRWA facility
In his news conference, the US secretary of state has told reporters that the US offers its condolences to the families and loved ones of those who “apparently” were killed in today’s bombing of an aid distribution facility operated by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees. According to UNRWA, the attack killed at least one of its staff members and injured an additional 22 other people.
Blinken admitted that he did not know “the facts” of the incident, but said that he spoke to the Israeli army about it, which told him that they were investigating. He said that the incident reinforces “the imperative of having much better and much more consistent deconfliction,” between humanitarian workers and the Israeli army, adding that the people working to distribute desperately needed humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip must “be able to do their jobs with as much security and as much confidence as possible”.
The Israeli military, the Israeli government, have a responsibility to make sure that humanitarian work can be carried out,” he continued, including not striking “clearly marked” humanitarian facilities. Israeli attacks on aid trucks and Palestinians seeking the aid carried by those trucks have been frequent over the last several weeks, including in northern Gaza, which is on the verge of famine.
Israel attacking aid centres; war on Gaza ‘has to stop’: UN relief chief
The killing of an UNRWA aid worker at a distribution centre is “devastating” for crucial humanitarian relief deliveries in Gaza, the UN’s top emergency aid official says. “How are we to maintain aid operations when our teams and supplies are constantly under threat? They must be protected,” Martin Griffiths posted on X.
“This war has to stop.”
Devastating news for our colleagues in #Gaza who have borne so much loss already, and for the families they were trying to help.
How are we to maintain aid operations when our teams and supplies are constantly under threat?
They must be protected.
This war has to stop. https://t.co/ulTYjINAB9
— UN Relief Chief (@UNReliefChief) March 13, 2024
