Airstrike kills six UNRWA relief workers at school in Gaza’s Nuseirat

Six relief workers have been killed in an airstrike on a school in Gaza — the highest death toll among UNRWA staff in a single incident.

In a statement, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said among those killed in the “tragic” incident was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people.

“This school has been hit five times since the war began,” the statement read. “It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.

“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared. Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.”

The agency then called on all parties to “never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes”.

The school had been set up as a UNRWA emergency shelter, providing food, medicine, social services and psychosocial support for children.

“We have lost 220 of our colleagues to date to this conflict that also makes it the deadliest conflict in UN history in terms of casualties from UN staff loss perspective,” Bill Deere, UNRWA Washington director told ABC.

He said the Israel Defense Forces have GPS locations of every UNRWA facility and all movements of UN workers delivering aid are coordinated with the IDF in advance.

The Israeli military has stated that it conducted a “precise strike” on militants operating inside a Hamas command and control center in the area of Nuseirat in central Gaza.

More than 40,000 Palestinians and over 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it.