UN says Israel killed 6 staff in airstrikes on refugee camp

Israel killed six workers from the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency in airstrikes on a Gaza school, the organization said.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Israel struck a school being used as a shelter at a refugee camp in central Gaza, and that the death toll was the highest “among our staff in a single incident.” At least 34 people in total were reportedly killed, according to Gaza health officials.

“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people,” the refugee agency said in a statement on social media. “No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared.”

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, called the incident “totally unacceptable.”

“A school turned shelter for around 12,000 people was hit by Israeli airstrikes again today. Six of our UNRWA colleagues are among those killed,” he wrote on social media. “These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier said its air force had “conducted a precise strike” on a Hamas “command and control center embedded inside” the refugee camp. The IDF has repeatedly accused the Hamas militant group of operating from civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.

Israel also said in January that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis, leading several European countries to temporarily cut funding to the agency. The U.N. fired a number of staffers from the agency after finding they may have been involved in the massacre.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said at least 220 UNRWA staff have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s invasion, which the IDF launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.

“Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” Lazzarini wrote.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza throughout the course of the war, according to health officials in the coastal enclave.