The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday that 9 of its employees were martyred in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA indicated in a brief statement issued by it that the number of martyrs among its employees in the Gaza Strip had risen to 9 as a result of the continuous Israeli bombing since last Saturday.
In a related context, Juliet Touma, Director of Media and Communications at the Palestine Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said that the agency has not been able to bring any aid into the Gaza Strip since Saturday, stressing that UNRWA employees are continuing their humanitarian work despite the risks and difficult circumstances.
Touma added that UNRWA is currently hosting 170,000 people in more than 80 schools and other facilities throughout the Gaza Strip, noting that the arrival of schools to their capacity has forced people to begin heading to health care facilities in search of shelter.
She added: “The Gaza Strip is completely closed to humanitarian aid and humanitarian personnel,” expressing her concern that basic supplies, including fuel, will run out in the next few weeks.
She indicated that the agency lost four of its employees as a result of the air strikes on Gaza, adding that at least 14 of its facilities were damaged directly and indirectly.
It stated that the UNRWA headquarters was subjected to collateral damage on Tuesday morning due to violent air strikes in the surrounding neighborhoods, and this happened while some of its employees were taking shelter in the same compound in a nearby building.
She also indicated that an UNRWA school sheltering displaced people “was subjected to a direct strike” a few days ago, but she confirmed that to date there have been no injuries or victims in the agency’s facilities.
