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Israeli air strikes on a faculty in Gaza sheltering displaced individuals killed six UN workers, the UN company for Palestinian refugees mentioned, prompting condemnation from the EU’s prime diplomat and Arab international locations.
UNRWA mentioned the strikes on Wednesday in Nuseirat in central Gaza had been the deadliest incident for its workers for the reason that battle within the Palestinian enclave started final yr.
It mentioned the lifeless included “the supervisor of the UNRWA shelter and different staff members offering help to displaced individuals”.
The Israeli navy mentioned it had carried out a “exact strike on terrorists who had been working inside a command and management centre embedded inside a compound that beforehand served because the al-Jaouni college”.
UNRWA mentioned the strike was the fifth time that the varsity, which is sheltering about 12,000 displaced individuals, primarily ladies and youngsters, had been focused for the reason that begin of the battle.
In a report printed earlier on Wednesday, UNRWA mentioned 214 of its workers in Gaza had been killed in the course of the battle, and that just about 70 per cent of the colleges that it ran earlier than the battle had been hit, “some a number of occasions”.
The Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Protection company in Gaza mentioned that total 18 individuals had been killed within the air strikes, and no less than 18 extra had been injured. The Monetary Instances was unable to independently confirm the toll.
The incident was denounced by Arab international locations, together with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The EU’s prime diplomat, Josep Borrell, mentioned he was “outraged” by the killings of the UN workers.
“The disregard of the fundamental rules of [international humanitarian law], particularly safety of civilians, can’t and shouldn’t be accepted by the worldwide neighborhood,” he wrote on X.
UN secretary-general António Guterres condemned the incident as “completely unacceptable”, and wrote on X: “These dramatic violations of worldwide humanitarian legislation have to cease now.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, hit again at Guterres, saying it was “unconscionable that the UN continues to sentence Israel in its simply battle towards terrorists, whereas Hamas continues to make use of ladies and youngsters as human shields”.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel, throughout which Palestinian militants killed 1,200 individuals and took one other 250 hostage, based on Israeli officers.
The Israeli offensive has taken a devastating toll on Gaza, killing greater than 41,000 Palestinians, based on native officers, displacing a whole lot of hundreds of individuals, and fuelling a humanitarian disaster within the enclave.
In a report printed on Thursday, Unctad, the UN’s commerce and improvement physique, mentioned that by the center of this yr, the financial system in Gaza had shrunk to simply one-sixth of its 2022 dimension.
“By early 2024, between 80 and 96 per cent of Gaza’s agricultural belongings — together with irrigation techniques, livestock farms, orchards, equipment and storage services — had been decimated, crippling the area’s meals manufacturing capability and worsening already excessive ranges of meals insecurity,” the company mentioned.
Because the devastation has mounted, Israel has come beneath rising worldwide strain to conform to a ceasefire. However talks mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar have did not yield a breakthrough, with Israel and Hamas at loggerheads over key components of a deal.
