DUBAI, December 2. /TASS/. Employees from humanitarian organizations Save the Children and World Central Kitchen have been killed over the past 24 hours in strikes by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the Gaza Strip, Muhannad Hadi, UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, said.

"Yesterday, another four humanitarian workers in Gaza were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Three World Central Kitchen staff members were killed when their vehicle was struck at a distribution site in Khan Younis. The fourth, a staff member of Save the Children, was killed in a separate air strike in southern Khan Younis," he noted in a statement published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

He also stressed that, since October 2023, over 330 humanitarian workers have been killed in the embattled enclave. "Humanitarian workers in Gaza represent the last lifeline for over two million Palestinians who are enduring unimaginable conditions—without adequate food, water, sanitation, shelter, health care, or education, and living under the constant threat of violence. Their work is not just critical; it is indispensable," the official emphasized.

"The continued killing of humanitarian workers is an unacceptable violation of international law and further intensifies the catastrophic humanitarian situation," Hadi concluded.

The situation in the Middle East escalated dramatically when, on October 7, 2023, armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip breached Israeli territory, killing residents of border settlements and seizing more than 240 hostages. In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave to destroy the military and political structures of Hamas and liberate all the hostages. The hostilities in the Gaza Strip continue to this day.