GENEVA, March 31 (Reuters) – Discussions are under way for a U.N. investigation into the killing of more than 390 employees in the two-year Gaza war, the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday, making it the deadliest conflict in the body’s history.
“I believe that we need to have a panel – a high-level panel of experts to look into the killing of our staff,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General at a press conference in Geneva on the last day of his term.
The topic has been raised with the office of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and with member states in New York, he added.
“Part of the reason this has not (been) operationalised yet is there is still an ongoing conflict,” he added, referring to Israel’s continuing airstrikes in the enclave despite an October ceasefire that ended the Israel-Hamas war.
More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, according to local health officials, following an attack on Israel by Hamas-led gunmen in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Lazzarini, who will be replaced temporarily by Britain’s Christian Saunders, warned earlier this month that his organisation’s viability was in doubt and that any collapse would result in Israel taking over its humanitarian work.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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