At least 70 Palestinians have been killed in an air attack on the Maghazi refugee camp, which a Palestinian Health Ministry spokesperson describes as a “massacre”.
Footage captured by Palestinian journalists and verified by Al Jazeera show an infant was among the victims and dozens of bodies have been taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza.
Israeli air attacks hit the main roads between refugee camps in central Gaza, hindering ambulances and paramedic crews from attending and rescuing injured people.
Issam Al Mughrabi, 56, who worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for three decades was killed along with his wife and children in an Israeli air strike.
“For almost 30 years, Issam has worked with UNDP through our Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, the loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target” UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said in a statement.
On Friday, the international agency’s secretary-general Antonio Guterres said that throughout the UN’s history, they had never witnessed the death of their staff in such large numbers.
“Most of our staff have been forced from their homes,” he added in a post on X, paying tribute to UN members working in Gaza.
More than 20,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll from Hamas’s attack on Israel stands at 1,139.
Source: Aljazeera and other news agencies
