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UNRWA employee killed, 22 more wounded in Israeli shelling of agency’s facility in Gaza

According to the UNRWA latest updates, at least 165 staff members have been killed and more than 150 facilities belonging to the agency have been damaged, and some of them have been destroyed totally, since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated

DUBAI, March 13. /TASS/. At least one employee of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was killed and 22 more were injured in an Israeli strike on the agency’s food distribution center in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the UNRWA said in a statement on its official website.

"Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread," UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said, as quoted in the statement.

According to Lazzarini, the UNRWA shares "the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict" and "the Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday."

According to the UNRWA latest updates, at least 165 staff members have been killed and more than 150 facilities belonging to the agency have been damaged, and some of them have been destroyed totally, since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated again.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the Gaza border were killed or taken hostage. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of Gaza, launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. On December 1, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) blamed Hamas for violating the ceasefire, which had been in effect since November 24, and resumed its military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian authorities pinned the blame for the resumption of Israel’s aggression on the United States.