DUBAI, April 2. /TASS/. At least 176 staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

The agency said on X that "176 UNRWA staff have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, several in the line of duty." The number of aid workers killed in Gaza is higher than in any other conflict, the UNRWA added.

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on March 24 that the Israeli authorities had informed the UN they would no longer allow the agency’s humanitarian aid convoys into northern Gaza. The UNRWA pointed out on March 13 that at least 165 staff members had been killed since the conflict in Gaza escalated, while over 150 of its facilities had suffered damage, with some of them completely destroyed.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people hostage. Israel started carrying out retaliatory strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. On December 1, 2023, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire that had taken effect on November 24 and resumed combat operations in Gaza.