Six UNRWA staff killed in Israeli strikes on school-turned-shelter

Palestinians gather in the courtyard of the school after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike. Pic/AFP

Six staff members of the UN agency were among those killed in Israeli airstrikes at a school-turned-shelter in Gaza, the United Nations said. The six staffers belonged to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the agency that assists Palestine refugees. At least 34 people were killed in the strikes, UN News reported citing media reports. UNRWA said the shelter manager and other team members were among the victims.

"This is the highest death toll among our 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. This school has been hit five times since the war began," the UNRWA stated in a post on X. The UNRWA school in Nuseirat, located in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, was sheltering around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. This marked the fifth time that it had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago.

Hundreds gather to remember US activist shot by Israel

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people travelled to the Seattle beach to mourn human rights activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. She was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers last Friday in the occupied West Bank, where she had gone to protest and bear witness to Palestinian suffering. A witness who was there, Israeli protester Jonathan Pollak, said she posed no threat to Israeli forces and that the shooting came during a moment of calm, following clashes between stone-throwing protesters and Israeli troops firing tear gas and bullets. Meanwhile, Turkey announced on Thursday its own probe into the Eygi's death.

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