UN: 196 humanitarian workers killed in Gaza

Some 196 humanitarian workers have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since 7 October, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said yesterday.

The number includes the seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff who were killed in Israeli strikes on their vehicles on Monday.

Dujarric emphasised that Gaza is one of the world’s most dangerous and difficult places to operate as a humanitarian worker.

Israel, he added, said it has launched an investigation into the attacks and the UN is awaiting the outcome of the report.

Investigations carried out by Al Jazeera and Bellingcat have concluded that Israel purposely targeted the WCK staff as they were travelling along a “deconflicted zone” and had coordinated their movements with the Israeli occupation army. The three cars they were travelling in were approximately 2.4 kilometres apart.

Bellingcat geolocated two of the vehicles on a road identified by the UN’s OCHA as being an “Accessible Road  for Humanitarian Aid,” while the third was in a field immediately next to this road. It added: “The destroyed vehicles bear the hallmarks of a precision strike, which only the IDF has the capability to conduct in the region.”

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