At least 59 United Nations staff working in the Gaza Strip have been killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the enclave.
The UN on Sunday held a service to remember the deceased staff members of its aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA.
“With my entire UN family, I grieve the loss of so many UNRWA colleagues,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on X.
He commended and thanked the UNRWA for its continued service to people in need amid unimaginable suffering and pain.
“Missiles are dropping on us from everywhere and nobody knows if they will live to see another day,” UNRWA quoted its staff Milina as saying about the situation in Gaza.
Israel has said it is targeting Hamas bases but has also attacked hospitals, schools and other civilian populated areas. The majority of the 8,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza so far are civilians including over 3,000 children, officials said.
The living condition of people in Gaza is growing desperate by the day. UNRWA on Sunday reported that thousands of people broke into its warehouses and distribution centres in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies.
One of the warehouses, in Deir al-Balah, is where UNRWA stores supplies from the humanitarian convoys coming from Egypt.
“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza. People are scared, frustrated and desperate,” Thomas White, director of UNRWA Affairs in the Gaza Strip, said in a statement.
He added that tensions and fear are made worse by the cuts in the phones and internet communication lines. They feel that they are on their own, cut off from their families inside Gaza and the rest of the world.
Since the recent war escalated on 7 October, over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. The Palestinians were killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes after a Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,400 people.
Several world leaders including Nigeria have repeatedly called for de-escalation of hostilities and a ceasefire to no avail as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza and gradual deployment of ground troops.
The Israeli forces asked Palestinians living in Northern Gaza to evacuate south. It also asked the Al Qud Hospital housing hundreds of people to evacuate as well.
Doctors in this hospital have said an evacuation is impossible as there are many patients in intensive care. The UN and its agencies say they find the evacuation order and continued strike close to the hospital concerning.
The Geneva Convention prohibits warring parties from targeting healthcare in times of war or conflict.
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