UN staff and members of the Red Cross were killed in the Gaza Strip

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

The UN agency for Palestine refugees has reported that 12 of its staff have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Hamas attack on Israel.

The statement did not specify whether they were Palestinians or foreign workers, but previously said they included five Agency school teachers, a gynecologist, an engineer, a psychologist-consultant and three assistants.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced that four of its members were killed in the Gaza Strip. Another one died in Israel.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war. It provides public services such as schooling, primary health care and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

  • Hamas militants attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, announcing the start of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation. They launched rocket attacks and broke into the border areas in the south of Israel, killing civilians, soldiers and taking hostages. At least 560 people were executed or shot.
  • The Israel Defense Forces responded by launching massive strikes on the Gaza Strip, launching Operation "Iron Swords". On October 8, Israel officially declared war and effectively declared that it would destroy both Hamas and the Gaza Strip.
  • The UN already records war crimes on both sides.