Juliette Touma of UNWRA says many of those killed were teachers, doctors, engineers helping refugees – and that Israel’s cutting of communications in Gaza prevented even the inadequate aid convoys getting into Gaza
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) has said that at least fifty-nine of its staff have been killed by Israeli bombing while trying to help Gazan refugees.
Speaking to the BBC, UNWRA’s Juliette Touma told of the death toll and said that UNWRA is ‘terrified for the fate’ of its staff still working in Gaza as Israel intensifies its already-horrific bombing of the tiny strip of land:
Touma also said that the daily humanitarian aid convoys – only 80 trucks compared to the 500 needed by Gaza even in normal times – were halted by Israel’s action in cutting off all telephone and internet communications in the territory.
Rounding up on the interview, the BBC’s reporter did not mention the deaths, but only that UNWRA is ‘working particularly hard in Gaza’.
Earlier this month, Israel bombed an UNWRA school in Gaza – intentionally, since it claims its strikes are not indiscriminate – killing teachers, children and others. A week ago, UNWRA put the death toll among its staff at twenty-nine – so more UN relief workers have been killed in the past week than in the first fifteen days of Israel’s war on Gazan civilians. Israel has also repeatedly bombed hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, killing many hundreds. Over 8,000 Palestinians, almost half of them children, have been killed so far.
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