HAMILTON, Canada
The UN on Wednesday reported that there are “now eight functional field hospitals” in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
“According to our partners working on the health response, the Indonesian field hospital in Rafah is out of service as of today,” UN deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a press conference.
He added that the remaining eight functional field hospitals hope to “address the overwhelming scale of needs in Rafah.”
Regarding the killing of a UN staff member employed by the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS) after their vehicle came under fire in Rafah while driving to the European Hospital in southern Gaza, Haq said the UN is receiving cooperation from Israeli authorities.
The deputy spokesperson also noted that UN security experts are investigating the incident.
It was unaware of the movement of the UN vehicle, the Israeli army claimed, adding that it was unable to confirm whether Israeli forces had fired on the UN vehicle, and that the incident was being investigated.
Photos and videos of the vehicle clearly show that it was marked as a UN car. Multiple bullet holes can be seen in its windows.
The shooting killed an international UN staff member employed by the DSS and injured another.
Footage of armed people around UNRWA facilities, vehicles appears to be ‘montage’
Regarding a video shared by the Israeli army showing armed people around a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) facility and vehicles in Rafah, Haq said, “UNRWA is unable to verify the authenticity or content of this video and does not have any information on the timing or the exact location of the video.”
The deputy spokesman urged all parties to respect UN facilities, saying, “They’ve seen the video, and from what they’ve seen, the video has many different cuts, which suggests to them on first glance that this is a montage of different clips, which may not have been taken at the same time, but they would need more information.”
He mentioned that following the evacuation order from Israel, UNRWA personnel left the building while the vehicles were left behind.
