UNRWA asks to investigate the death of almost 400 of its workers in Israeli attacks in Gaza

The commissioner general of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, requested this Tuesday that an investigation be opened into the deaths of some 400 agency workers in attacks carried out by the Israeli Army against the Gaza Strip.

“I think there should be a high-level committee made up of experts to review these killings of our own personnel during the offensive in Gaza,” he said during a press conference from the Swiss city of Geneva.

This is how he referred to 390 UNRWA workers and staff members who have died since the offensive began following the attacks on October 7, 2023 at the hands of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and other Palestinian factions in Israeli territory.

“Seeing what has happened recently, we can say that the agency has not been adequately protected by the international community. The attack on the facilities and personnel of this UN agency cannot go unanswered,” he stated.

In this sense, he has stressed the importance of the “support of the UN Member States.” “We need it if we want something to be achieved, because otherwise the repercussions will be catastrophic for future generations,” he noted.

Lazzarini has condemned the situation faced by UNRWA, whose activities are completely banned in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the Israeli Parliament approved a new law on the matter. “Many UNRWA workers have suffered serious, life-changing injuries or have been arbitrarily detained and tortured,” he said.

“Therefore, it is necessary that an investigation be opened into the death of these workers and also those of other UN agencies. There are other United Nations colleagues who have also been murdered,” he clarified, while regretting the “large-scale destruction of the agency and its facilities in Gaza.”

Israeli authorities continue to maintain that around 10% of UNRWA’s 12,000 workers have ties to “Palestinian terrorist groups” and accuse many of them of having “actively participated in the atrocities” of October 7, attacks in which 1,200 people died, although the agency denies these accusations.

Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, 72,286 deaths and 172,028 injuries have been documented, although there are still bodies under the rubble and lying in the streets, so it is estimated that the number could increase.