UN agency worker killed and dozens injured after Rafah aid centre hit by Israeli forces
The United Nations (UN) agency for Palestinian refugees says at least one of its staff members were among the six people killed killed after Israeli forces hit a food distribution site in southern Gaza.
Some 165 workers for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) have now been killed during the past five months of conflict between Israel and proscribed terror group Hamas, the agency said.
Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said a further five people were killed and 22 others injured in Wednesday's strike, in the city of Rafah.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency shares the coordinates of its Gaza facilities with Israel every day, and called for an independent inquiry into attacks on its facilities.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) did not immediately comment on the attack.
"Today's attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine," Mr Lazzarini said.
"Since this war began, attacks against UN facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace in blatant disregard to international humanitarian law."
Israel, without providing any evidence, has accused hundreds of UNRWA employees of being members of militant groups in Gaza.
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Elsewhere, Israeli authorities have said they will soon begin to direct the majority of the estimated 1.4 million displaced Palestinians in Rafah towards "humanitarian islands" in the centre of the Gaza Strip.
The development comes ahead of Israel's planned military offensive into the city, which the IDF says is needed to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas.
But humanitarian groups have warned that military action in Rafah will have catastrophic consequences.
Israel's chief military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the movement of civilians out of Rafah would be done in coordination with international actors.
He said that the so-called humanitarian islands would provide temporary housing, food, water and other necessities to evacuated Palestinians.
However, he declined to say when either the Rafah evacuation or Israeli offensive would start, explaining that Israel wanted the timing to be right operationally and to be coordinated with neighbouring Egypt.
Israel's military operation in Gaza has currently killed more than 30,100 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The offensive was itself triggered by an unprecedented attack into southern Israel by Hamas on October 7 2023, which killed 1,200 people and led to around 250 others being taken hostage.
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