ISTANBUL:
9 UN staff have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza because the begin of a bombardment Saturday, a UN company stated Wednesday.
“9 UNRWA personnel (six workers and three contractors) had been killed, whereas three lecturers had been injured,” the United Nations Reduction and Works Company (UNRWA) stated in a press release.
It stated all UNRWA colleges throughout the Gaza Strip, together with the Rehabilitation Centre for Visually Impaired and the 2 vocational centres in Gaza and Khan Younis, stay closed.
“Two UNRWA colleges had been affected by airstrikes, bringing the entire variety of installations affected by the battle to 20 since 7 October,” it added.
Learn additionally: UN rights chief condemns Israeli ‘siege’ of Gaza
In a dramatic escalation of Mideast tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful army marketing campaign in opposition to the Gaza Strip in response to a army offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.
The battle started when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood — a multi-pronged shock assault together with a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by way of land, sea and air. Hamas stated it was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ rising violence in opposition to Palestinians.
The Israeli army launched Operation Swords of Iron in opposition to Hamas targets inside the Gaza Strip in response. Israel’s response has prolonged into slicing water and electrical energy provides to Gaza, additional worsening the residing situations in an space that has reeled beneath a crippling siege since 2007.
Greater than 1,900 individuals have been killed within the violence, together with not less than 900 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, in line with authorities.