The figure was disclosed by the agency in a statement denouncing the Israeli bombing last Wednesday against a food distribution center in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.

The strike caused a new fatality among the institution’s staff and caused injuries to 22. Local sources reported another five deaths and several civilians injured in the incident.

The attack on one of the few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Strip came at a time when food supplies are running out and hunger is widespread, the Agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, criticized. “Every day we share the coordinates of our facilities with the (Israeli) Armed Forces,” he stressed, and recalled that “the United Nations, its personnel, its buildings, and its assets must be protected at all times.”

Since the beginning of this war, attacks on UN facilities, convoys, and personnel have become commonplace, in flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law, he stressed.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths separately condemned the Israeli bombings.

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