UN refugee agency says 207 staff killed in Gaza war since Oct. 7

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Monday that 207 of its team members have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Oct. 7.

“207 UNRWA team members have been killed in Gaza since the war began – including in the line of duty,” the agency said in a statement on X.

The agency noted that the victims were a diverse group of professionals. “They were engineers, teachers, medical staff. They were humanitarian workers.”

In honor of these individuals, UNRWA highlighted their sacrifices on World Humanitarian Day. “On World Humanitarian Day and every day we remember and pay tribute to them all,” the statement concluded.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed nearly 40,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,600, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 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 it 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.