UNRWA staff ‘despairing’ after Israeli attack
Sam Rose, senior deputy director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, says the organisation is facing one of its most difficult days following the attack on a school it runs that killed six of its staff members.
“Staff in the offices are in shock,” Rose told Al Jazeera from Khan Younis. “They’re grieving. They’re despairing.”
“The scale and the rapidity of the incidents are just too difficult for us to get our head around sometimes,” he said, adding that it is the fifth time the UNRWA-run al-Jaouni school was targeted during the war.
Asked whether UNRWA would be able to keep operating despite the threats against it, Rose said, “We’re running out of options.”
“The space in which we’re able to operate geographically, and even conceptually and existentially, is simply shrinking. And our staff, who are working day in, day out around the clock” do not have the protection they deserve, he said.
Funeral held for victims of Nuseirat school strike
The funeral for the people killed in the Israeli strike on the al-Jaouni school has been held as Palestinians in Gaza go from tragedy to tragedy.
Health facilities are also busy accommodating a large influx of injuries from an attack on a residential building in Khan Younis earlier, where four members of a family were killed by an Israeli drone.
Doctors have been dealing with cases back-to-back for almost a year, which makes it very difficult to save lives.
EU chief diplomat ‘outraged’ by Israeli strike on UN-run school
The European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says he is “outraged” by the killing of six UNRWA staff after an Israeli strike on the al-Jaouni school in central Gaza.
The EU’s top diplomat said the disregard of the basic principles of international humanitarian law, especially the protection of civilians, cannot and should not be accepted by the international community.
Outraged by the killing of 6 @UNRWA staffers after IL strikes hit - for the 5th time - a school in Nuseirat sheltering 12,000 displaced people
The disregard of the basic principles of IHL, especially protection of civilians, cannot & should not be accepted by the int. community.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) September 12, 2024
Then do something, you are the EU foreign policy chief after all. You are part of the international community you blame.
‘Humanitarian workers should not be victims of rockets’: Germany
Germany has joined a growing list of states speaking out against the killing of six UN staff at a school in central Gaza that Israel bombed.
In a statement, Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said, “Humanitarian aid workers must never be victims of rockets … the death of six UNRWA staff at a school in Nuseirat is totally unacceptable … Israel’s army has a responsibility to protect UN staff and aid workers.”
The attack on the al-Jaouni school killed a total of 18 people, including women and children, according to Gaza’s civil defence.
Humanitarian aid workers must never be victims of rockets. The death of six @UNRWA staff at a school in #Nuseirat is totally unacceptable. @UNRWA is providing vital aid in #Gaza and has a UN mandate to do so. Israel’s army has a responsibility to protect UN staff and aid workers.
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) September 12, 2024
Israel must protect aid workers in Gaza: Blinken
The US secretary of state has called for the protection of humanitarian workers after six UNRWA staff members were killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza.
“We need to see humanitarian sites protected, and that’s something that we continue to raise with Israel,” Antony Blinken told reporters on a visit to Poland. He added that a US-backed ceasefire was the best way to ensure their safety.
The US top diplomat also argued that Hamas bore some responsibility. “We continue to see Hamas hiding in, taking over, and otherwise using these sites from which to conduct its operations,” he said.
Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, claiming that Hamas operates from these places and hides among civilians. But Israeli claims have often been not backed by proof, and activists have accused Israel of targeting civilian infrastructures such as residential buildings, schools, universities and hospitals in the enclave.
Blinken carrying the lie. His fake concern is only so he can spread more Israeli propaganda. No it's Blinken that also bears a lot of responsibility for the continueing genocidal massacres.
UN special rapporteur says ‘outrageous’ to blame Palestinians for latest ‘massacre’
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese says it is “outrageous” to blame Palestinians for the “massacre” committed by Israel at a UN-run school sheltering displaced people in Gaza on the basis of “unevidenced ‘human shielding’ accusations”.
Albanese said Israel’s claims that Hamas operatives hide in humanitarian zones are part of “Israel’s logic of genocide”.
Responding to a statement by the German Foreign Office repeating the Israeli line that “Hamas uses civilians as human shields” despite no evidence having been provided to substantiate the claim, Albanese said she could not believe “how far Germany seems ready to go to protect Israel’s genocidal campaign”.
