The head of the United Nations agency that assists Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that an Israeli military strike killed one staffer and injured 22 others at a food distribution center in the southern Gaza Strip.
“Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in a statement. “The Israeli Army received the coordinates, including of this facility yesterday.”
The strike hit an UNRWA distribution center in the eastern part of Rafah. Lazzarini said it is one of the very few remaining such facilities in Gaza.
The Israeli military didn’t immediately comment on the incident.
The death brings to at least 165 UNRWA staffers killed since October 7. More than 150 of the agency’s facilities, including schools and shelters, have been hit in the war, with some destroyed. The agency says more than 400 people sheltering in U.N. buildings have been killed.
“I am calling once again for an independent inquiry into these violations and the need for accountability,” Lazzarini said.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the attack is “another tragic symbol” of the conditions under which humanitarians work every day in Gaza.
Israel has intensified its calls for the dismantling of UNRWA since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel. The Israeli government has accused a dozen UNRWA staffers of being complicit in the attacks.
The United Nations fired the accused and has launched an internal investigation.
Israel has shared what it says is a dossier of evidence against the UNRWA staffers, and has further publicly accused dozens more, but the United Nations says it has not received any further information other than what was originally presented to UNRWA chief Lazzarini in mid-January.
“Let's be clear: There has been no further handover of information by the Israeli authorities to UNRWA,” spokesperson Dujarric said in response to a question from VOA earlier this week about the investigation.
