Number of UN staff killed in Gaza climbs to 72

The UN relief agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, has said that 72 of its staff have been killed in Gaza by Israel.

Spokeswoman Juliette Touma told the BBC that its remaining facilities that have not been bombed by Israel are housing more than 700,000 civilians in cramped and overcrowded conditions.

The commissioner-general of Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini, speaking to Christiane Amanpour on CNN on Thursday said the “number of people killed so far is so staggering it can no longer be considered collateral [damage].”

“Over the last few hours, I received reports that three of our schools sheltering about 20,000 people have been hit.” @UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini just visited Gaza, the first senior UN official to do so. He joined me to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis. pic.twitter.com/96oVDJpHWO
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) November 2, 2023