UNRWA: ‘Over 400 Palestinians killed seeking refuge in our Gaza facilities’

The United Nations announced on Friday that the Israeli army has killed more than 400 people who sought refuge in its facilities in the besieged Gaza Strip since 7 October.

This came in a statement by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) posted on its X account: “One million people are sheltering in or around @UNRWA facilities across the📍#GazaStrip – from newborn babies to the elderly, this has become ‘home’.”

“Devastatingly, now over 400 people have been killed while seeking shelter in these @UN facilities. Nowhere, & no-one, is safe,” it added.

In a previous post, UNRWA stated: “153 different @UNRWA installations have been attacked during the war in #Gaza.”

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit the organisation, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency with a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees.

If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary.

Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership in the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

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