RABAT, May 18. /TASS/. More than 300 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have died in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, said.
"Throughout this war, one of the most dreadful updates I regularly receive is the death toll on UNRWA staff. Today, that death toll has surpassed the gruesome milestone of 300," he wrote on his X page.
"Several were killed in the line of duty while serving their communities. Those killed were mostly UN health workers & teachers, supporting their communities," he noted, adding that "those responsible must be held accountable."
On March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in the Gaza Strip and delivered a series of strikes on Hamas targets, thus cutting short the ceasefire that had been in place in the enclave since January 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the move by Hamas' rejections of proposals advanced after talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff. It claimed that the goal of the operation was to release all of the Israeli hostages. Hamas placed responsibility for this latest spiral of escalation in Gaza on Israel and the United States.