In war-torn Gaza, an Israeli reserve officer says they “blew up” UN buildings
A man in the Israeli army’s reserve force recently admitted in an interview that his unit helped destroy churches and UN offices in the Gaza Strip. An American investigative reporter named Jeremy Loffredo recorded a talk with a reserve soldier who said, “We trained for a month, and then we went to Gaza.”
He then discussed the job of his group, saying that it was to blow up homes, “mosques, and UN offices.”
“I remember that we broke into a UN office that was supposed to help war-affected families in Gaza, and we destroyed it,” he said.
The interview was shared by Loffredo on his X (formerly Twitter) page just one day after the Israeli military said it had not attacked UN buildings in Gaza. Instead of what was said, the Israeli forces said on March 19 that they had not hit the UN compound in Deir al-Balah.
On the other hand, an attack on two UN guesthouses in Deir al-Balah on the same day resulted in the death of one UNOPS employee and the injuries of five others. António Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, was shocked and saddened by what happened.
There was a death at two UN guesthouses in Deir al Balah, which his spokesperson said in a statement. “The Secretary-General was deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the death of a United Nations Office for Project Services staff member.”
All UN buildings are known to both sides of the war, and they are required by international law to be protected and not be broken into in any way.
Guterres also sent his sympathies to the family of the victim and said that since October 7, 2023, at least 280 UN workers have been killed in Gaza.
The Israeli attack was called a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” by the resistance movement Hamas in Gaza. They said it was part of Israel’s pattern of attacking civilians and aid workers.
The group said that the Israeli government was wrong to try to scare off aid workers and make the humanitarian crisis in Gaza even worse. They claimed that Israel had already killed hundreds of UNRWA and aid workers in Gaza.
The Government Media Office in Gaza also spoke out against the Israeli attack on the UN center, saying it was an intentional attempt to stop relief aid.
The office said in a statement, “This crime is part of a deliberate policy against UN and humanitarian organizations to stop them from doing their duty to help the Palestinian people.”
It told the UN to move quickly and demanded an international investigation right away to hold the Israeli government responsible.