Israeli air strike on UNRWA aid center Gaza, at least Eight People Killed.
Eight Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli air strike on a training headquarters near Gaza City used to distribute aid, while Israeli tanks continued their incursion into the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said.
The witnesses added that the raid hit part of the headquarters of a vocational training center run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is now providing aid to displaced families.
One of the witnesses, Muhammad Tafesh, said: “People are coming to receive coupons, and there are people who are straying from their homes and have no place to stay, so they are sitting here filling water, and they are receiving coupons. Suddenly, we heard the sound of something falling,” and we went running. The one who had a gallon of water threw it away.”
A Reuters photographer saw a low-rise building destroyed and bodies wrapped in blankets lying on the side of the road waiting to be transported. Tafesh added, “We turned out to be the witnesses, the one who sells a refrigerator (cold drinks) and the one who sells pastries, and there are young people who receive coupons, and there are those who distribute. Four or five martyrs and 10 wounded.”
The Israeli army said in a statement that the site, which it stated was in the past the headquarters of UNRWA, is used by fighters from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements. He pointed out that preventive measures were taken before the attack to reduce the risk of harming civilians.
The army added, “This morning (Sunday), Israeli Air Force fighter jets, under the guidance of Israeli Army Intelligence and Shin Bet, bombed a terrorist infrastructure in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were operating.”
He went on to say, “This is another example of Hamas’ systematic exploitation of civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields for its terrorist activities. Hamas denies Israeli accusations that it is using civilians as human shields or using civilian facilities for military purposes.
Juliette Touma, Director of Communications and Media at UNRWA, said that the agency is studying the details of the reported attack before providing further information.
Since the beginning of the war, we have recorded that nearly 190 of our buildings have been hit,” she added. This is the vast majority of our buildings in Gaza. She added that 193 UNRWA team members were killed in the conflict.
Hamas media reported that shortly after midnight, an Israeli raid targeted a medical clinic in Gaza City, killing Hani al-Jaafrawi, director of the Ambulance and Emergency Department of the Ministry of Health in the city, and a member of the medical staff. Israel has not issued any comment yet.
