GENEVA: Over 100 UN employees have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war started in the Gaza Strip, the UN Palestinian refugee agency stated on Friday, making it the deadliest war ever for the UN in such a short period of time.
Reuters cited an official of UNRWA as saying “Distressed. More than 100 UNRWA colleagues confirmed killed during one month. Teachers, parents, doctors, nurses, and support staff. UNRWA is mourning, Palestinian people mourning,” Philippe Lazzarini stated on social media platform. The UN agency later stated it was mourning about 101 colleagues.
UN Mourns Record Death Toll in War with Over 100 Staff Members Killed in Gaza
“They show what is occurring to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They occur to work for the United Nations,” said Juliette Touma, an official of UNRWA. “They and every other civilian in Gaza …must never have been killed.”
Similarly, the International Committee of the Red Cross has called for health workers and medical facilities in war-torn Gaza to be protected, adding the Gaza health system had “reached a point of no return.”
The Red Cross said that its health teams in recent days had provided critical supplies to medical structures in the Gaza Strip, and had seen “terrible images that have now gotten worse because of sharpened hostilities.” The Red Cross stated that this was cruelly affecting health facilities and ambulances and medical staff. “Overstressed, running on thin supplies and insecure, the health care system in the Gaza has reached a point of no return.”
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As per media reports, UN officials around the globe will observe a minute of silence while flags will fly at half-mast on Monday, the UN stated.
Besides the Gaza Strip, the next most lethal conflicts for UN workers was Nigeria in 2011 when a suicide bomber attacked UN Abuja office during an insurgency, killing at least 46.
