UNITED NATIONS, April 5. /TASS/. The Gaza conflict has taken an especially deadly toll on civilians, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said prior to the UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East.
"The war in Gaza is the deadliest of conflicts for civilians, for aid workers, for journalists, for else workers, and for our own colleagues. Some 196 humanitarian aid workers, including more than 175 members of our own UN staff, have been killed," he said.
Guterres said earlier that the UN would look into the cause of death of each UN staff member in Gaza.
On April 2, World Central Kitchen (WCK), an organization dedicated to providing free meals to victims of various natural disasters, was notified that its staff were killed when their vehicle was hit while traveling south of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Seven WCK workers were killed: a Palestinian, citizens of Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and a volunteer with dual US-Canadian citizenship. Israeli authorities expressed their condolences and promised a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident. Israel Defense Force Spokesman Daniel Hagari offered condolences to the WCK and to the countries whose citizens were killed. Hagari said that the IDF was doing its best to establish all the circumstances of the incident and will release the conclusions.