Over 200 aid workers killed in Gaza during war, UN official says

The UN’s top official for the coordination of humanitarian aid in Gaza says the killing of seven staffers from a charity group helping ease famine-like conditions in the Strip “is not an isolated incident.”

“At least 196 humanitarians had been killed” in Gaza from October 2023 until March 20, says Jamie McGoldrick in a statement. “This is nearly three times the death toll recorded in any single conflict in a year.”

Israel has acknowledged mistakenly bombing seven aid workers from US-based World Central Kitchen who were unloading food brought by sea to the war-torn Gaza Strip, and promised an investigation into the incident.

McGoldrick says the Palestinian enclave “has become one of the world’s most dangerous and difficult places to work. There is no safe place left in Gaza.”

Separately, the United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry condemns the attack, accusing Israel of deliberately targeting the aid workers.

The UAE holds Israel fully responsible for this dangerous development, and calls for an urgent, independent and transparent investigation, and punishment of those who have committed this heinous crime in contravention of international humanitarian law,” a statement from Abu Dhabi reads. The UAE is a major funder of World Central Kitchen.