The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said in a statement Wednesday that at least one of its staff members was killed and 22 were injured when Israeli forces struck one of its food distribution centers in southern Gaza. The Israeli military acknowledged the strike, saying it had targeted a Hamas commander.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it had killed Muhammad Abu Hasna in the strike on the building in Rafah, describing him as “involved in taking control of humanitarian aid and distributing it to Hamas terrorists.”
Hamas on Wednesday confirmed the death of Abu Hasna, whom Hamas said was the deputy head of police operations in Rafah.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the distribution center near the Egyptian border had been hit even though the coordinates of the center had previously been shared with Israel and other parties to the conflict. UNRWA did not provide additional details on the nature of the attack or identify the staff member who was killed. Local human rights organizations reported that five people were killed. The Washington Post could not immediately confirm a higher death toll.
The attacks on police and a U.N. aid facility occurred during a massive hunger crisis in Gaza that relief agencies say has been caused in large part by Israel’s obstruction of relief supplies to the enclave. Israel has previously carried out strikes on police, including those responsible for protecting aid convoys, prompting the remaining officers to withdraw and leaving the trucks and supplies exposed to looting by criminal gangs and desperate civilians.
In recent weeks, as aid deliveries collapsed, at least 27 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration at hospitals in northern Gaza, where the needs are particularly acute, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 31,272 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, said the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israel has denied limiting aid deliveries to Gaza, instead blaming the bottlenecks on humanitarian groups it says are unable to distribute the relief at a fast-enough pace. Aid agencies say a limited amount of entry points, an onerous Israeli inspection process and Israeli attacks on aid convoys and the local police that guard them have severely hampered relief efforts.
“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,” Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, said in a statement Wednesday.
“Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict,” he said. “The Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday.”
In a post on X, Martin Griffiths, the U.N. humanitarian chief, called the attack “devastating news for our colleagues in #Gaza who have borne so much loss already, and for the families they were trying to help.”
“How are we to maintain aid operations when our teams and supplies are constantly under threat?” he wrote. “They must be protected. This war has to stop.”
Other countries, including Jordan, Egypt and the United States, have responded to the crisis by dropping food and other supplies by air and pledging to open a maritime aid corridor. The U.S. military conducted its ninth airdrop of humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza on Wednesday, Central Command said in a statement. U.S. aircraft dropped more than 35,000 ready-to-eat meals and over 28,000 bottles of water, the statement said.
But diplomats and humanitarian officials have warned that the airdrops and sea deliveries are not enough to meet Gaza’s massive needs.
“We need to act. The very survival of the population in Gaza is at stake,” the E.U.’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Wednesday ahead of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington.
He said opening air and sea access for aid was “good” but “not enough.”
“You cannot replace hundreds of trucks by sending parachutes,” he said. “The most important thing is to open the borders by land.”
Commenting on Wednesday’s UNRWA strike, Blinken said Israel has “a responsibility and an obligation to do everything possible to ensure that the humanitarians can do their jobs.”
“And among other things, that means making sure that if there’s a humanitarian facility that’s clearly identified, it’s not struck,” he said.
Fahim reported from Beirut, Hudson from Washington and Soroka from Tel Aviv.