Criticism pours in after Israel strikes UN compound in Khan Younis
Criticism pours in after the Israeli regime attacks a United Nations' facility in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, which has endured more than three months and a half of an unrelenting genocidal Israeli war.
The world body reported the attack shortly after it took place on Wednesday.
It said the strike had targeted the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)'s vocational training center in the city, which had turned into a shelter for tens of thousands of Palestinians, who have been displaced by the war.
'Mass casualties'
"Mass casualties have taken place, some buildings are ablaze and there are reports of deaths. Many people are trying to flee the scene, but [are] unable to do so," said UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian Territory, James McGoldrick.
Thomas White, director of Gaza affairs for UNRWA, said two tank rounds had hit one of the center's buildings, where some 800 displaced people had been sheltering, killing at least nine people and wounding 75 others.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the death toll was probably higher.
'Clearly marked UN facility, blatant disregard for rules of war'
"The compound is a clearly marked UN facility and its coordinates were shared with Israeli authorities as we do for all our facilities. Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war," Lazzarini said.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, meanwhile, said, "Ordering trapped people to evacuate and bombing them before they can even do so is callous."
The Israeli regime’s staunchest ally, the United States, which has been providing the war with unwavering military and political support, only sufficed to deplore the attack, saying the protected nature of UN facilities had to be respected.
The regime has been waging the war since October 7, 2023 following an operation carried out by Gaza's resistance movements.
Around 25,700 Palestinians, some 70 percent of whom are women, children, and adolescents, have been killed in the brutal onslaught so far.
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