Several people were killed after Israeli forces bombed a United Nations shelter in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza said.
“Two tank shells hit a building housing 800 people – there are now reports of 9 dead and 75 injured,” said Thomas White, Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. in the Middle East (UNRWA), on social networks. X platform.
Update – attack on Khan Younis training center this afternoon – two tank shells hit building housing 800 people – now reports 9 dead and 75 injured@UNRWA And @WHO team trying to reach center – route agreed with Israeli army blocked by earth embankment #Gaza
-Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) January 24, 2024
In another post earlier Wednesday, White said the training center housing displaced families had been set on fire.
The number of casualties is expected to rise, with the UN official saying the incident likely caused “many casualties”.
UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna, based in Rafah, told Tel Aviv Tribune that the UN had tried to send ambulances to the site in coordination with the Israeli army.
He said no warning was issued by the Israeli military before the attack.
The agency has not been able to access the compound for 48 hours due to the presence of Israeli tanks in the area, Abu Hasna said, calling the situation “very dangerous.”
“We tried to coordinate the exit of internally displaced people, but unfortunately we did not succeed,” he added.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, condemned the attack on the shelter as “a blatant disregard for the fundamental rules of war.”
“The compound is a clearly identified UN facility and its coordinates have been shared with Israeli authorities, as we do with all of our facilities,” he said. wrote in an article on X, saying the number of people killed was probably higher.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the attack was “incredibly concerning.”
“We deplore today’s attack on the UNRWA training center,” he said. “Civilians must be protected and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected. »
“Fire everywhere”
Israel continued its intense attacks on Khan Younis, particularly targeting medical facilities. Some 660 attacks on health facilities have been recorded in Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry said Wednesday that the Israeli army isolated the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis after it was surrounded and ground troops engaged in close combat with Hamas fighters.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) also wrote on .
Khan Younis was once designated as a “safe zone” for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were evacuated from the north and Gaza City at the start of the war.
Israeli soldiers advanced on Monday for the first time into the al-Mawasi district, near the Mediterranean coast, west of Khan Younis.
Asmaa Abu Khudair, a Palestinian displaced from al-Mawasi to Rafah, said she fled intense shelling in the area after the building next to hers was attacked by the Israeli army.
“Their planes started shooting. All of a sudden, balls of fire started falling on us,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune. “The whole area was in flames, fire everywhere. We started running, I pulled one of my daughters out, but I couldn’t find my other daughter.
Abu Khudair said the flames grew bigger and she had to flee without her missing daughter. “Do you understand when I say fire?” she said in tears. “I lost my daughter. My husband was in his brother’s tent.
“The next day, their bodies were found, completely charred,” she added.
At least 25,700 people have been killed and 63,740 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the war began on October 7.
