WASHINGTON 

At least 562 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, the UN said on Friday, following the death of another aid worker in an Israeli strike a day earlier.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that a staff member from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was killed in a strike on Deir al-Balah, which also seriously injured four others while the team was waiting for a bus to go to an MSF hospital.

“This was the 14th staff member from Medecins Sans Frontieres to have been killed in Gaza since the start of this conflict on October 7,” Dujarric added.

MSF identified the victim as Omar Hayek, 42, an occupational therapist who had worked with the group since 2018.

“All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers,” it said, expressing “deep sorrow and outrage” over his killing.

He also relayed figures from the UN humanitarian office. “OCHA warns that since that date (Oct. 7), at least 562 aid workers have been killed, including some in the line of duty. That includes 376 UN staff members,” he said.

“On the ground, our humanitarian colleagues warned that the situation in northern Gaza continues to rapidly deteriorate. Military operations and heavy strikes hitting residential areas and buildings are driving up the death toll and continue to wreak havoc on the area,” Dujarric said.

The Israeli army has killed over 66,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave all but uninhabitable and led to starvation and the spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and 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.