The UN says one of its staff members was killed and another injured while traveling to a hospital in southern Gaza on Monday.
The workers were traveling in a UN vehicle to the European hospital near Rafah when it was struck.
The UN did not say who it believed was responsible for the attack.
The Israeli military said an initial investigation indicated the vehicle was struck in an active combat zone and that it was not informed of its route.
Images posted on social media and verified by the BBC show a UN vehicle marked with several bullet holes outside the European hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it received a report from the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) indicating that two of its personnel were injured on Monday in the Rafah area of southern Gaza .
The Israeli military added that the incident was under investigation.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply saddened” by the news of the worker’s death and offered his condolences to their family, his spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a statement. statement, external.
“The Secretary-General condemns all attacks against UN personnel and calls for a thorough investigation,” added Mr. Haq.
Mr Haq said the dead and injured staff members were international workers and not Palestinians, and added that he believed this was the first death of an international UN worker in Gaza since the start of the conflict.
In a separate statement, Mr. Guterres said more than 190 U.N. personnel had been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
While the worker killed Monday is believed to be the first international casualty for the UN, six international aid workers and a Palestinian colleague from the international charity World Central Kitchen were injured. killed in Israeli strike At the beginning of April.
Their deaths sparked an international outcry and the Israeli army fired two senior officers over the incident, which it called a “serious accident.”
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza with the stated aim of destroying Hamas – which controls Gaza – in response to the group’s cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed. killed and 252 others taken hostage.
Since then, more than 35,090 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
