The United Nations said on Monday that Gaza has become the most dangerous place in the world for aid workers.
At least 250 aid workers have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, the United Nations said on Monday, including nearly 200 working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), further hampering the work of organizations already struggling to provide aid to the region.
Aid groups say much of the danger comes from Israeli bombing and airstrikes. More than 37,000 Gazans have died in the eight-month war, according to local health authorities. Hamas-led attacks killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped about 240, according to Israeli officials, after which Israel retaliated in Gaza.
Dangers faced by humanitarian workers in Gaza have disrupted or prevented the delivery of much-needed aid, with aid groups warning that hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are facing famine.
It was not immediately clear how many aid workers had been killed in the Israeli offensive, but at least some of UNRWA’s 193 staff had been killed, said Inas Hamdan, UNRWA’s acting public information officer in Gaza.
“The airstrikes or bombings never stopped,” said Ms. Hamdan, adding: “For a humanitarian response to be effective, a stable environment is needed.”
this International Crisis GroupThe Aid Worker Safety Database, an open-source database that tracks attacks on aid workers worldwide, said in early May that it had recorded 308 incidents targeting aid workers in Gaza, killing 234 people. The group said that was the most incidents recorded in a single conflict year since 1997.
But the crisis group said that in addition to the Israeli bombardment, the high death rate among aid workers in Gaza stems from an ineffective system to ensure the safe movement of aid workers through communication and coordination with the Israeli military.
Questions about the system, known as “de-confliction,” sent to COGAT, a unit of the Israeli military tasked with enforcing government policy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, did not immediately receive a response.
Dr. Tanya Hajji Hassan is a pediatric critical care physician who has traveled to many conflict zones working with aid organizations. In late March, she volunteered at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah for two weeks, providing medical aid to Palestinians, primarily treating victims of airstrikes. She said de-escalation involves notifying warring parties that aid workers are arriving and where they are going, so that the warring parties can avoid targeting them.
She said the de-escalation process in Gaza was “a farce” with aid workers being attacked when there were no military targets nearby.
“Nothing compares to my experience in Gaza, where there is constant drone and actual bombing, so you always feel like you or the building you’re in could be hit at any moment,” said Dr. Hajji Hassan.
She added: “We don’t have any security.”
In April, seven World Central Kitchen employees Killed Although the aid group said it coordinated its convoy’s movements with the Israeli military, they have failed to prevent the Israeli airstrikes.
The military later said in a statement that the “serious mistake” was caused by A bunch of errorsincluding “misidentification, poor decision-making, and violations of standard operating procedures.”
Israel’s explanation for the attack proposed question Legal experts told The New York Times after the attack that the military had the ability to identify civilians, procedures to protect them and compliance with international law.
