Gaza strip

The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA on Wednesday (Sep 11) revealed that six of its staffers were killed after two Israeli airstrikes hit a school in Gaza. This incident marks the highest death toll for UN Staff since the start of the war.

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"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," said the UNRWA on X.

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UN Chief António Guterres, in a statement, has called the lack of accountability on UN staff killings in Gaza "totally unacceptable".

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Also read | Gaza War: Hamas holds key hostage, prisoner swap talks in Doha with Qatar and Egypt

Strikes on school

Israel in a statement said that its air force had "conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command-and-control centre," on the school grounds".

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However, the UNRWA in a post on X said that the school is home to thousands of displaced people.

"This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children," said the UNRWA.

UN Secretary-General Guterres, in an interview with Reuters, said that the past year has been "very tough, very difficult".

Also read | Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas militants hit UN school, homes in Gaza; 34 killed

He said that Israel's retaliation against Hamas in Gaza — which has killed over 41,000 people since Oct 7 — are "very dramatic violations of the international humanitarian law and the total absence of an effective protection of civilians."

"What's happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable," he said, adding that nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers, most of them UN staff, have been killed during the conflict. 

He said that there should be an effective investigation and accountability for their deaths.

"We have courts, but we see that the decisions of courts are not respected, and it is this kind of limbo of accountability that is totally unacceptable and that requires also a serious a serious reflection," he stated.

(With inputs from agencies)