“The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all,” UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said in a statement.
More than 90 Palestinians, including 76 members of one extended family, have reportedly been killed in Israeli airstrikes that leveled two homes in Gaza, marking one of the deadliest bombardments in Israel’s war against Gaza.
Friday’s strike in Gaza City killed 16 heads of household from the al-Mughrabi family, local health and rescue officials said on Saturday.
Among those who perished was a 56-year-old staff member with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Issam al-Mughrabi, as well as his wife and five children. He had worked for the agency for nearly three decades.
“The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all,” UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said in a statement.
“The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target. This war must end. No more families should endure the pain and suffering that Issam’s family and countless others are experiencing,” Steiner added.
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Worst in History
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 20,258 Palestinians have been killed, and 53,688 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Friday calling for aid deliveries to Gazan civilians to be sped up. The resolution was watered down after the US blocked an effort to demand an “urgent suspension of hostilities” in the conflict.
The UN warned in a report this week that more than 500,000 people in Gaza are starving amid Israel’s bombardment. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that Israel’s military offensive was creating “massive obstacles” to the distribution of humanitarian aid.
About 85% of Gaza’s population has been displaced. Guterres said 136 UN agency staffers had been killed, “something we have never seen in UN history.”
UNSC Resolution Comes Late and is Not Enough – Arab League Chief
(The Palestine Chronicle)
