Gaza war: UNRWA says Rafah aid centre hit by Israeli forces
UNRWA – the UN agency for Palestinian refugees – has said a member of their staff has been killed and 22 others injured after Israeli forces hit a food distribution centre in Rafah.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said attacks on its facilities had “become commonplace in blatant disregard to international humanitarian law”.
Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed five people.
The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in a “precise strike.”
Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip, is packed with an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians who are seeking shelter from Israel’s ground offensive elsewhere in Gaza.
The UN’s secretary general has warned that a threatened Israeli assault on the city could “plummet the people of Gaza into an even deeper circle of hell”.
More than 31,200 people have been killed in Gaza due to the Israeli offensive, launched in response to the October 6 attacks on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 253 others taken as hostages.