More than 560 displaced people killed in Gaza while sheltering under UN flag: UNRWA

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - More than 560 displaced people were killed in the Gaza Strip while sheltering under the UN flag, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday.

"Many of our schools are demolished and can no longer be used as schools. In the past two weeks alone, eight UNRWA schools, all serving at shelters for displaced people, have been struck.

"Our headquarters, offices in Gaza are destroyed beyond recognition. More than 560 displaced people, including many women and children, have been killed while sheltering under the UN flag," Antonia Marie De Meo, deputy commissioner-general of UNRWA told the UN Security Council meeting.

De Meo said women, children, journalists, and humanitarian workers all continue to pay a "tragically high price."

"UNRWA is no exception. 199 colleagues have now been killed, the vast majority with their families," she said, reiterating that "no place is safe in Gaza."

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.