Israel-Hamas war updates | G7 appeals for humanitarian pauses in Gaza, seeks hostages’ release

(JERUSALEM) Israel’s Attorney General and state Attorney are working with police and military to formally investigate the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, they announced on Wednesday.

“Our goal is to investigate and initiate legal proceedings against those who perpetrated, planned and otherwise took part in these heinous acts -– wherever they are,” the statement said. It said Israel would punish the Hamas militants with “the utmost severity, commensurate with their crimes.”

Police are working to collect evidence from towns across the south as attorneys for the Ministry of Justice decide how best to proceed with the investigation. - AP

(MADRID)Spain’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that a Spaniard missing in Israel following the Hamas attack in October is dead. The ministry identified him as Iván Illarramendi. It declined to give any further details.

In a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, Israel’s Ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, said, “Our hearts are torn by the news of the brutal murder of Iván Illarramendi. He has been identified a month after the terrorist massacre committed by Hamas in Israel, along with his wife Dafna Garcovich.”

The Israeli Embassy was unable to say where the death occurred.

Spain’s state news agency Efe and other Spanish news outlets have reported that Illarramendi and his Chilean wife had been living in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry confirmed the death of another Spaniard with Israeli citizenship, Maya Villalobo Sinvany, on Oct. 11.

Following the attacks, the Ministry would only say that two Spaniards had been “affected” in the attacks.

Villalobo was reported to have been in military service at an Israeli miliary base at the time of the attack. - AP

(BEIRUT, Lebanon) Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed two attacks on Israeli infantry units in the areas of Shomera and Dovev on Wednesday which it said inflicted casualties on Israeli forces. There was no immediate confirmation of the casualties from the Israeli military.

Following the strikes, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency and an Associated Press journalist in south Lebanon reported heavy shelling in several border areas in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the attack on Dovev was in retaliation for Israeli forces targeting an ambulance in Lebanon. On Sunday, local Lebanese officials said an Israeli drone had struck near two ambulances on their way to pick up casualties from overnight strikes in southern Lebanon, wounding four paramedics. The Israeli army said it had launched strikes on a “terrorist cell” that was attempting to fire missiles toward Israel and hadn’t intentionally targeted the vehicles.

Another Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon on Sunday evening hit a car driving between the towns of Ainata and Aitaroun and killed three children and their grandmother and wounded the children’s mother. An Israeli military statement later said the car had been “identified as transporting terrorists” and that the military was reviewing “allegations that there were civilians in the vehicle.”

Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants and their allies have been clashing along the border since the start of the Israel-Hamas war a month ago. While the clashes remain largely contained, they have increased in intensity as Israel conducts a ground incursion in Gaza against Hezbollah ally Hamas. - AP

(KYIV, Ukraine)Ukraine has evacuated 43 of its nationals from the Gaza Strip and helped 36 Moldovan citizens reach safety in Egypt, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian diplomats helped the two groups get out of the war zone, Mr. Zelenskyy said on Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He said Ukraine was working with embassies in Israel and Egypt to get more of its citizens out of Gaza. - AP

(JERUSALEM) Israel’s wartime security Cabinet will meet late on Wednesday in the West Bank offices of the military’s Central Command “due to warnings by security officials about the potential for a serious escalation in violence” in the territory, the Ynet website reported, citing a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Israeli media reported last week that the Shin Bet security agency issued such a warning, noting an increase in violence by Jewish settlers.

Deadly violence has been surging in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Israel’s military pursues Hamas militants following the group’s bloody Oct. 7 incursion into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The violence threatens to open another front in the war Israel launched against Hamas after it killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel and took more than 240 people hostage.

As of Tuesday, 167 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank over the past month, mainly in clashes with Israeli troops. The toll since the beginning of the year was 371.

Some of the dead have been killed in violent anti-Israel protests, and Palestinians have said eight people were killed in attacks by settlers, who have intensified assaults and provocations since the war began.

Daily Israeli military arrest raids in the territory have intensified, with once-rare aerial attacks becoming much more common. The military said Wednesday that 1,430 wanted men have been arrested in the West Bank since Oct. 7, including more than 900 from Hamas. - AP

(TOKYO) Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies announced a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday after intensive meetings in Tokyo, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and calling for “humanitarian pauses” to speed aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement following two days of talks, the nations sought to balance unequivocal criticism of Hamas’ attacks against Israel and “the need for urgent action” to help civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” said the statement, hammered out by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy. “We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages.” - AP

(JERUSALEM) After months of refusal, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin said he will convene the judicial selection committee on Nov. 16 to fill empty slots in the Supreme Court and lower benches.

The committee has been a central battleground in Levin’s plan to weaken the country’s judiciary because he wanted to change its makeup to give the government control over appointments. The proposed judicial overhaul touched off months of mass protests across the country by demonstrators who accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of seeking to weaken the only serious check on politicians.

Levin said earlier this week that he would convene the panel soon. In a letter Sunday to the Supreme Court, he said, “wartime is not the time to deal with controversial subjects,” and that he would bring before the panel candidates who have broad support.

The government maintains the courts have overstepped their powers and need to be reined in. The demonstrations against the proposed overhaul were put on hold after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking over 240 hostages, touching off a fierce Israeli assault to crush Hamas. - AP

(KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza) An Israeli airstrike struck a residential area in the Zannah neighborhood east of Khan Younis on Wednesday, destroying at least one house and damaging surrounding buildings.

First responders were searching the rubble for dead or wounded from the strike. At least three people -– two women and a child — were killed, according to an Associated Press journalist. Ambulances were transporting injured people to a hospital, the journalist said.

Khan Younis is in southern Gaza where Israel’s military ordered people in Gaza City and its surroundings to move. - AP

(CAIRO) Residents reported loud explosions across Gaza City and the adjacent Shati refugee camp overnight into Wednesday, as Israel’s military said its troops were battling Hamas forces deep inside the densely populated urban area.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said an airstrike Wednesday morning hit a house near the Jabaliya refugee camp, also part of that built-up area.

“The bombings were heavy and close,” said Mohamed Abed, who lives in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. He said people around him panicked when they heard the news late Tuesday that Israeli ground forces were fighting deep in the city.

Gaza City is the focus of Israel’s military campaign, now in its second month, to crush the Hamas militant group, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years. The war was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. - AP

Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north, a United Nations agency said Wednesday, as Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City.

Over 70% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already fled their homes, but the growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza’s largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment.

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that the number of civilians killed in the Gaza Strip shows that there is something “clearly wrong” with Israel’s military operations against Hamas Palestinian militants.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, after the militants killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostages in an Oct. 7 attack. Israel has struck Gaza - an enclave of 2.3 million people - from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground invasion.

“There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields. But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong,” Guterres told Reuters NEXT.

Reuters

Israel faced mounting pressure from some of its closest allies Wednesday over the plight of civilians in Gaza, where thousands streamed on foot out of the enclave’s north because of dwindling food and water and fear of approaching Israeli forces.

Over 70% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already left their homes, but the number making their way south has quickened recently as Israeli troops battle Hamas militants inside Gaza City and the humanitarian situation grows increasingly dire.

AP

Israel has no intention of reoccupying the Gaza Strip or controlling it for “a long time,” a senior Israeli official said as Israeli forces pressed their offensive against Hamas militants in the coastal enclave.

“We assess that our current operations are effective and successful, and we’ll continue to push,” the Israeli official told reporters in Washington late on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s not unlimited or forever.”

Reuters

The widespread and systematic bombardment of housing and civilian infrastructure in Gaza amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity, an independent United Nations expert said Wednesday.

A month of Israeli attacks on targets within the Gaza Strip have destroyed or damaged 45 percent of all housing units in the Palestinian territory, Balakrishnan Rajagopal said, warning the destruction comes at a “tremendous cost to human life”.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing stressed that systematic or widespread bombardment of housing, civilian objects and infrastructure are strictly prohibited under international law.

AFP

The US has asked the Israeli government to distinguish between Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians as Israel intensified its retaliation in the region after Hamas launched a surprise attack on October 7.

“We have raised directly with the Israeli Government about the need to distinguish between Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians. This is something that the Secretary has raised directly on his travels. We even laid out that we believe that there are commitments that can be made additionally on dealing with protecting civilian life more effectively, and we’re watching very closely to make sure that happens,” said US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.

ANI

Israel recorded a budget deficit of 22.9 billion shekels ($6 billion) in October, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday, citing a spike in expenses to fund Israel’s war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

As a percentage of GDP, the deficit over the prior 12 months rose to 2.6% in October from 1.5% in September, it said.

The Ministry noted that revenue fell 15.2% last month due to tax deferments and lower social security income as a result of the war that began on Oct. 7.

Israel’s deficit in September was 4.6 billion and in October 2022 it was 3.1 billion.

- Reuters

Israel said it was tightening the “stranglehold” around Hamas in Gaza City as the military operation on Wednesday aimed at smashing the Palestinian militants gathered pace despite ceasefire calls.

Smoke billowed above the densely-populated coastal territory as fighting raged over a month after the Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 in Israel, sparking the deadliest ever war in Gaza.

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 10,300 people, many of them children.

Israel has set an aim of destroying Hamas and said its ground forces were advancing in pursuit of the militants who have a deep network of tunnels and underground bases.

“(Israeli troops) are tightening the stranglehold around the city of Gaza,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said late on Tuesday.

- AFP

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called on Israel not to reoccupy Gaza once its war with Hamas ends.

Speaking to reporters after G-7 Foreign Ministers held talks in Japan, Mr. Blinken listed what he said were “key elements” in order to create “durable peace and security.” “The United States believes key elements should include: no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, not now, not after the war; No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks; No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends,” Mr. Blinken told reporters.

He added that other conditions included no “attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza” or any “reduction in the territory of Gaza.”

- AFP

A move towards a peace-loving leadership in Palestine is the most desired outcome in the Israel-Hamas conflict, British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said on Wednesday, reiterating Britain’s support for a two-state solution.

“In the short term, it is inevitable that Israel, because they have the troops in Gaza, will need to have a security responsibility,” Mr. Cleverly said at the G-7 summit in Japan.

“But our view is as soon as practicable, a move towards a peace loving Palestinian leadership is the most desired outcome.”

- Reuters

A row over the UK main Opposition Labour leader’s stance on Israel’s war with Hamas escalated on Wednesday, with the resignation of one of the party’s top team.

Keir Starmer, who looks set to become Britain’s next prime minister at an election expected next year, according to polling, has refused to call for a permanent ceasefire.

Instead, the former human rights lawyer has called for a humanitarian pause to Israel’s bombardment to allow much-needed aid to reach ordinary Palestinians unable to leave the coastal enclave. His stance, however, has caused disquiet within the party.

In a letter tMr. o Starmer, Imran Hussain, the party’s spokesman on workers’ rights, said he wanted to be a strong advocate for a humanitarian ceasefire.

“A ceasefire is essential to ending the bloodshed, to ensuring that enough aid can pass into Gaza and reach those most in need, and to help ensure the safe return of the Israeli hostages,” he wrote. Mr. Hussain added that he “unequivocally condemned” Hamas’s October 7 attacks and firmly agreed that “every country has the right to defend itself”. But he said this could “never become a right to deliberately violate international law on protecting civilians or to commit war crimes”.

- AFP

G-7 Foreign Ministers said on Wednesday that they supported “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Israel-Hamas war but refrained from calling for a ceasefire.

“We stress the need for urgent action to address the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza... we support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages,” the ministers said in a joint statement after talks in Japan.

The statement also said the Ministers “emphasize Israel’s right to defend itself and its people in accordance with international law as it seeks to prevent a recurrence” of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

It added: “We call on Iran to refrain from providing support for Hamas and taking further actions that destabilize the Middle East, including support for Lebanese Hezbollah and other non-state actors, and to use its influence with those groups to de-escalate regional tensions.”

- AFP

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies, UN monitors said Wednesday. About 15,00 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The civilians flee during a four-hour window set daily by the Israeli military that assures safe passage from Gaza City and its surroundings to the south. Most of those fleeing were children, the elderly and people with disabilities, the UN agency said. Many arrived on foot with minimal belongings.

In a new development, some of those fleeing reported that they had to cross Israeli checkpoints to reach the south and that they had witnessed some arrests by Israeli forces. Others have said they had to walk past Israeli tanks with raised hands while waving white flags.

- AP

Tahreer Azzam, a nurse at Makassed Hospital in east Jerusalem, has been caring for young, desperately-ill Palestinian patients for 16 years.

Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last month, she now struggles to find them.

Usually, around 100 patients from Gaza receive care each day for complex health needs such as treatment for rare cancers and open heart surgery, at hospitals like Azzam’s, as well as in the occupied West Bank, Israel and other countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

That came to a halt after Oct. 7, when gunmen from the Islamist group Hamas broke through the Gaza border fence, killing nearly 1,400 people inside Israel and taking some 240 hostages. Israel imposed a complete siege on Gaza, bombarding the coastal enclave and launching a ground offensive. More than 10,000 Palestinians, including over 4,000 children, have been killed, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza.

Azzam and her colleagues have been trying to reach their patients ever since, including checking Facebook to see whether they are still alive.

“We saw a post announcing that one of our child patients had been killed in the strikes. He had been at the department only a week before. He was six years old,” she told Reuters in an interview. “I can’t forget his image.”

The WHO is pushing for the most vulnerable among the chronically ill to be allowed out for treatment. Other countries have offered to take in patients, including Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

- Reuters

Americans have become more likely to describe Israel as an ally that shares U.S. interests and values since the war with Hamas began, but they’re divided over whether Israel has gone too far in its response to last month’s attack, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey, which was conducted from Nov. 2 to 6, also reveals skepticism among Democrats toward Israel, which could present a challenge for President Joe Biden as he tries to balance support for the country’s defense and his party’s shifting priorities.

The result is a rather muddled picture that presents few easy options for the White House as it keeps one eye on public opinion with an election year on the horizon.

- AP

The U.N. rights chief is visiting the Middle East amid rising concerns over Israel’s escalation in Gaza, his office said on November 7, a month after Hamas carried out the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Volker Turk, on November 7, was in Egypt at the start of a five-day visit to the region, and was planning to visit the Rafah crossing to Gaza on November 8, his office said in a statement.

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Dozens of Filipinos fled from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip into Egypt through the Rafah crossing after Filipino diplomats negotiated for their safe passage and Qatar mediated for the border to be opened, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday.

The 40 Filipinos were traveling to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where they planned to take flights back to the Philippines, Marcos said in a video message in Manila. Two Filipino doctors managed to leave the Gaza Strip into Egypt last week.

“I hope the rest of our countrymen who also wanted to return home can also exit properly with their spouses and loved ones,” Marcos said.

Most of at least 134 Filipinos in Gaza, many of whom are married to Palestinians, have sought help to leave the besieged territory and are waiting for an opportunity to leave, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said.

- AP

The U.S. House voted late Tuesday to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — the only Palestinian American in Congress — an extraordinary rebuke of her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.

The 234-188 tally came after enough Democrats joined with Republicans to censure Tlaib, a punishment one step below expulsion from the House. The three-term congresswoman has long been a target of criticism for her views on the decades-long conflict in the Middle East.

The debate on the censure resolution on Tuesday afternoon was emotional and intense. Republican Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia pushed the censure measure in response to what he called Tlaib’s promotion of antisemitic rhetoric. He said she has “levied unbelievable falsehoods about our greatest ally, Israel, and the attack on October 7.”

With other Democrats standing by her side, Tlaib defended her stance, saying she “will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words.”

Tlaib added that her criticism of the Jewish state has always been directed toward its government and its leadership under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

- AP

The only country that can rein Israel in is its patron, the U.S. But unfortunately, the Biden administration, despite all its rhetoric about rights and a rules-based order, is yet to act. This is an opportunity for the U.S. to show the moral leadership which it always preaches about.

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G-7 foreign ministers discussed how to revitalise peace efforts in the Middle East and the “day after” in the Gaza Strip once the conflict there recedes as they met for a two-day summit in Tokyo.

The subject was brought up during a working dinner late on Tuesday, host Japan said in a statement, with the Group of Seven (G-7) due to continue talks on Wednesday on the Israel-Gaza crisis, Russia’s war in Ukraine and issues related to China.

The statement gave no details of options being discussed if the Hamas militant group is ousted from Gaza as the result of an ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

- Reuters

Five hostages of Hamas are free, offering some hope to the families of others snatched in southern Israel during the militants’ deadly rampage on Oct. 7.

But the families of those still in captivity have questions, such as why progress has been so slow, why some and not others are being released and whether Israel’s punishing bombardment of the Gaza Strip puts their loved ones in danger.

Israel on Oct. 30 announced its first hostage rescue — that of army Pvt. Ori Megidish. Hamas had earlier released Americans Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie, 18. Also let go were Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, along with Nurit Cooper, 79. Their husbands remain in captivity.

Hamas has said it would let the others go in return for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which has dismissed the offer.

- AP

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday (US local time) discussed the latest developments in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The U.S. Vice President spoke with the Israeli President on the one-month anniversary of Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel on October 7.

Harris reiterated her support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens and combat terrorism following the Hamas’s attack and underscored her and President Biden’s focus on securing the release of hostages being held by the Hamas, as per a release issued by the White House.

The Vice President emphasised the importance of protecting civilian lives and respecting international humanitarian law. She emphasised the imperative to further increase the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.During her conversation with Herzog, Harris also raised the need to increase stability and security in the West Bank and hold extremist settlers accountable for violent acts.

Beyond the current conflict, the Vice President underscored the importance of setting conditions now for durable and sustainable peace and security with equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians. She committed to continuing to work with partners throughout the region to that end, as per the official release.

Meanwhile, the White House on Tuesday cautioned Israel against reoccupying Gaza after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Tel Aviv can consider to “have the overall security responsibility” in Gaza “for an indefinite period” once the war is over, the New York Times reported.

- ANI

Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab, Islamic and African nations in coming days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saudi Arabia’s investment minister said on Tuesday.

“We will see, this week, in the next few days Saudi Arabia convening an emergency Arab summit in Riyadh,” said Saudi investment minister Khalid Al-Falih, at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.

“You will see Saudi Arabia convening an Africa-Saudi summit in Riyadh, and in a few days you will see Saudi Arabia convening an Islamic summit,” he said.

“In the short term, the objective of bringing these three summits and other gatherings under the leadership of Saudi Arabia would be to drive towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

- Reuters

Nearly 60 Canadian nationals, residents and their dependents have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, Canadian officials said Tuesday.

“The first group of Canadians have left Gaza. Our team of officials has met them on the Egyptian side of the border, providing them with support and care,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The ministry said 59 Canadians, permanent residents and family members have crossed the Rafah border into Egypt, out of 400 nationals registered with Canada seeking to leave.

Thew will be taken to Cairo before heading to Canada or another country of their choice.

- AFP

The number of evacuees leaving the Gaza Strip through Egypt rose on Tuesday, a day after the Rafah border crossing was re-opened.

At least 500 people, most of them foreigners or dual nationals and their dependents passed through Rafah, the only crossing that does not border Israel, Egyptian security sources said.

Evacuations through the crossing were suspended on Saturday and Sunday after an Israeli strike on an ambulance that was heading to Rafah. Egyptian security sources said Egypt was continuing to press for increased aid and fuel into the strip and security for ambulances.

Jordan’s foreign ministry said 262 Jordanians were evacuated on Tuesday, out of a total of 569 that had been stuck in Gaza following the outbreak of fighting there.

Nineteen Gazans needing medical treatment were also allowed through, a medical source said, to join dozens of others who are being treated in Egyptian hospitals.

Other countries with citizens cleared to leave on Tuesday included Romania, Germany, Moldova, Ukraine, the Philippines and France, according to the Gaza border authority.

- Reuters

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said Gaza is “becoming a graveyard for children”, CNN reported.

Guterres told reporters in New York: “The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity.” He added that the need for a ceasefire is becoming “more urgent with every passing hour.”

“The parties to the conflict--and, indeed, the international community--face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: to stop this inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he said.

The UN chief said 89 staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began a month ago.

More UN aid workers “have been killed in recent weeks than in any comparable period in the history of our organisation,” he wrote on X on Monday night.

- ANI