The main entrance to the complex, which facilitated the distribution of aid and sheltered the displaced, was hit during the attack.
At least eight people were killed in an Israeli airstrike near an aid center that was the main headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip.
Sunday’s airstrike hit the main entrance to the organization’s compound in Gaza City, north of the enclave, injuring several Palestinians. The facility is used to distribute what little humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza.
Hundreds of people displaced by the Israeli army’s ground invasion of Gaza were sheltering inside the facilities at the time of the incident.
A Palestinian woman at the scene told Tel Aviv Tribune that she saw many dead bodies and that two of her children were injured in the attack.
“What did these innocent children do wrong? They run from death to death. Young men and women are being massacred by the Israelis,” she said.
“Some people came to receive vouchers and others had been displaced from their homes and had taken refuge here. Some were stocking up on water, others were receiving coupons, and suddenly we heard something fall. We fled, those carrying water let it flow,” said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses.
A Reuters photographer saw a low-rise building completely demolished and bodies wrapped in blankets lying on the side of the road, waiting to be taken away.
Nowhere is safe #Gaza.
According to @GlobalEdCluster69% of school buildings where displaced families sought refuge were directly affected or damaged.
This blatant disregard for humanitarian law must stop. We need a #CeasefireNow. pic.twitter.com/izwPNeKOVC
– UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 23, 2024
The attack followed a series of strikes across the city the day before, including against the Shati and Tufah camps, where the Israeli army had asked displaced Palestinians from the north to seek refuge. At least 42 Palestinians were killed in these attacks.
Gaza’s health ministry said Saturday that at least 101 Palestinians had been killed in the previous 24 hours, and 169 injured.
It was the deadliest day since the June 8 Nuseirat refugee camp massacre, which killed at least 274 Palestinians and injured hundreds more in a daytime operation that led to to the rescue of four Israeli captives.
Israeli forces have killed 37,598 Palestinians and injured 86,032 others, many of them children and women, during more than eight months of a devastating military offensive, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israeli attacks on aid distribution and UN facilities continue despite international condemnation and calls for an immediate ceasefire and increased aid to avoid the deadly consequences of the blockade of food, fuel and medicine to Gaza.
According to UNRWA, 445 attacks by the Israeli army, damaging 188 different UN facilities, have been reported since the start of the war. At least 500 displaced Palestinians were killed while sheltering in the premises, and 1,547 were injured.
The Israeli military has also killed a record 193 UN personnel since October 7.
Meanwhile, aid is piling up and rotting outside the Gaza Strip, as a complex bureaucratic procedure put in place by the Israeli military and the security challenges of operating inside the enclave prevent war-stricken Palestinians to get help.