UNRWA, the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, claimed on Wednesday that six of its staffers were killed in an IDF strike in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.
The agency claimed this was the highest death toll among its staff in a single incident.
“Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people. Sincere condolences to their families and loved ones,” UNRWA said in a statement.
“This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. No one is safe in Gaza No one is spared. Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target,” it claimed.
“We call on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes,” the agency concluded.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later criticized Israel over the strike, writing in a post on X, “What's happening in Gaza is 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.”
“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now,” he added.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, later fired back at Guterres and said, “What is 'unacceptable,’ Antonio Guterres, is the fact you refuse to recognize reality and continue to distort it.”
“Terrorists operating out of civilian buildings previously used by UNRWA are not ‘innocent.’ It is unconscionable that the UN continues to condemn Israel in its just war against terrorists, while Hamas continues to use women and children as human shields,” added Danon.
“I suggest you carefully investigate who these terrorists were, what they were doing in the past and what atrocities they were committing when they were eliminated before making statements. I’ll reiterate: Israel will continue its just war against terrorism. The solution is not a ceasefire, but the release of all hostages still held in Gaza and the elimination of Hamas,” said the Israeli Ambassador.
Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza regularly use UNRWA buildings for terrorist activities against Israelis. The IDF has struck UNRWA facilities used by Hamas for terrorist activities, but regularly takes measures to ensure no civilians are harmed in those strikes.
In addition, UNRWA workers have been found to have been directly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
Israel said in January of this year that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. It then presented a dossier showing that the UNRWA workers who participated in the Hamas massacre kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively took part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.
Guterres later announced the creation of a review group, headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, to look into the Israeli allegations.
The group released its report in April. The report found neutrality-related issues" in UNRWA but also claimed that Israel had yet to provide evidence for allegations that a significant number of its staff were members of terrorist organizations.
Last month, the UN acknowledged for the first time that employees of UNRWA may have been involved in Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel.