Six staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were among at least 34 people killed when two Israeli airstrikes hit a school-turned-shelter and its surroundings on Wednesday. The attack has been condemned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said in an X post that the situation in Gaza is “totally unacceptable”.
What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable.
A school turned shelter for around 12,000 people was hit by Israeli airstrikes again today.
Six of our @UNRWA colleagues are among those killed.
These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 11, 2024
The UNRWA school is located in Nuseirat, in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip. It was used to shelter around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. According to UN News, the strikes marked the fifth time the school had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago. The report also said the site had been previously “deconflicted with the Israeli forces”.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini also criticised the attack. “Endless & senseless killing, day after day…Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he said in an X post, adding, “The longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant.”
#Gaza
Endless & senseless killing, day after dayAnother school sheltering displaced people hit in Nuseirat today.
Among the people killed are six @UNRWA staff working & providing support to families who have sought refuge in the school.Since the beginning of this war, at…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) September 11, 2024
Reuters reported Guterres as saying that there have been “very dramatic violations of the international humanitarian law and the total absence of an effective protection of civilians” in Gaza. He emphasised the need for accountability as nearly 300 humanitarian-aid workers, more than two-thirds of them UN staff, have been killed during the conflict.
“We have courts, but we see that the decisions of courts are not respected, and it is this kind of limbo of accountability that is totally unacceptable and that requires also a serious reflection,” Guterres said.
Repeatedly held responsible for the massive civilian death toll in Gaza amid the ongoing war, Israel has blamed the fatalities on Hamas, saying they often use crowded civilian areas to mount attacks.
