Over 1,500 humanitarian workers killed since start of Israel’s war on Gaza: Media Office

GAZA CITY, Palestine/ISTANBUL

At least 1,513 humanitarian workers have been killed and hundreds of medical and civil defense facilities destroyed since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, the Government Media Office in Gaza said Monday.

“The number of martyrs from medical teams has reached 1,402, in addition to 111 martyrs from Civil Defense teams, bringing the total to 1,513 since the start of the aggression,” the office said in a statement.

A recent Israeli attack in Rafah in southern Gaza against members of the Palestine Red Crescent and the Civil Defense highlighted the dangers faced by humanitarian workers in Gaza, who risk their lives daily to save others and deliver aid.

On Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society announced the recovery of 14 bodies after the Israeli attack. The victims included eight Red Crescent workers, five Civil Defense personnel and one staff member from a UN agency.

This came days after the Palestinian Civil Defense reported recovering the body of one of its team members who was killed by Israeli forces, raising the death toll from the attack to 15.

Commenting on the attack, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said on X: “#Gaza: devastating to confirm the deaths of two additional @UNRWA colleagues and 8 Palestinian Red Crescent aid workers & first responders.”

“This brings the death toll of aid workers killed to 408, among them more than 280 UNRWA staff since the war began 1.5 years ago.

“Targeting or endangering emergency responders, journalists or humanitarian workers is a flagrant & severe disregard of international law,” he said, adding: “There must be accountability.”

Later, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor described the incident as "the largest mass execution of humanitarian workers in the history of modern warfare."

Israel began a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has killed more than 1,000 people and injured over 2,000 others since then, shattering a January ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel's military onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.