Gaza ministry says foreign UN worker killed and 5 hurt in Israeli strike

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a foreign U.N. worker was killed and five others seriously injured Wednesday by an Israeli strike on their headquarters, as the Israeli army denied hitting a U.N. building.

A statement from the health ministry said there was "one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions... due to the bombing of their headquarters by the occupation in the central governorate a short while ago."

It added they had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

AFPTV footage from Deir el-Balah showed U.N. vehicles and an ambulance transporting three men to the Al-Aqsa hospital.

In a statement, Israel's army denied hitting a UN building in Gaza, saying: "Contrary to reports, the IDF (army) did not strike a UN compound in Deir el-Balah".

An army spokesperson told AFP: "I confirm there was no IDF (Israeli army) operational activity there and that the IDF didn't strike the U.N. compound."

AFPTV footage from the Al-Aqsa hospital showed two men who appeared to have leg injuries and a third with bandages on both arms and abdomen and traces of blood on his chest.

Two of the injured were wearing bulletproof vests, with one wearing a T-shirt of UNMAS, the United Nations Mine Action Service, underneath.

Gaza's civil defense agency said earlier Wednesday that 13 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory since midnight.

Overnight between Monday and Tuesday, Israel launched a wave of strikes on Gaza, by far the deadliest since a fragile ceasefire came into force on January 19.

The strikes killed more than 400 people, according to Gaza's health ministry, making it one of the deadliest days since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The health ministry published a new death toll from the war with Israel Wednesday, showing an additional 970 deaths in 48 hours.

The death toll from the war in the Gaza recorded by the ministry at midday on Monday (1000 GMT) stood at 48,577. By midday on Wednesday, the figure had risen to 49,547, it said.