NEW YORK, March 19, 2025 (WAFA) – The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) Wednesday condemned the killing of a UN staff member in a suspected Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini decried the killing of an employee of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in a suspected Israeli airstrike that targeted one of the body’s buildings in Deir al-Balah as “another black day for the UN in Gaza.”
“Condolences to our colleagues at UNOPS for this tragic loss and wishes for a smooth recovery to our injured colleagues,” Lazzarini posted on his X account.
He stressed the need to protect humanitarian personnel at all times and noted that the UN, including the UNRWA, continues to pay dearly while conducting its humanitarian duties.
The suspected Israeli airstrike resulted in at least five additional casualties, several of whom are very severely injured.
Three of the injured UNOPS personnel worked in support of the UN Mine Action Service Occupied Palestinian Territory program. Two of the injured UNOPS personnel worked in support of the UN 2720 Mechanism for Gaza, according to a UNOPS statement.
Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children.
The death toll reached 436 with 678 others wounded, according to medical sources. Emergency teams are attempting to recover victims still trapped beneath the rubble.
The aggression was resumed amidst concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip given the ongoing siege and ban on the entry of medical and humanitarian aid.
Israel has waged a military onslaught on the Strip since October 2023, killing over 49,547 Palestinians, mostly women and children and injuring 112,719 others.
Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
K.F.
