UN to reduce staff in Gaza, blames Israel for strike that killed its employee
Deir al-Balah, Mar 24 (AP): The United Nations said Monday it will “reduce its footprint” in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others.
Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the UN guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that “based on the information currently available,” the strikes on the site “were caused by an Israeli tank.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Dujarric said the UN “has made taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organization's footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar.”
He said the world body was cutting back about a third of its approximately 100 international staffers in Gaza. He said the UN “is not leaving Gaza,” pointing out that it still has about 13,000 national staff in Gaza, mainly working for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The move comes as Israel has cut off all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza's around 2 million people for more than three weeks. Last week, it relaunched its military campaign in Gaza, with bombardments that have since killed hundreds of Palestinians, breaking a ceasefire in place since mid-January.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas to force it to accept new terms for the ceasefire and release more hostages.
Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN's humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said the U.N. and its partners have already suspended a number of activities, many in education, protection and water and sanitation services. The reason, she was, was safety concerns and the impact of Israeli evacuation orders.
“A lot things are constrained right now because of the security situation,” she told AP before Dujarric's announcement. “The challenges are massive. We have had a lot of our activities affected by the situation and a lot of our partners have had to suspend operations because it is just not safe.”
Movement of trucks, including those distributing water, have been affected, she said. Only 29 out of 237 temporary learning spaces have resumed their activities since the ceasefire collapse, she said.
The United Nations previously didn't say who was behind the strike on its compound. The Bulgarian staffer who was killed, Marin Valev Marinov, 51, was a member of the UN Office for Project Services, which carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world.
A strike exploded near the compound, then hit it directly in the days before the deadly strike, UNOPS chief Jorge Moreira da Silva said earlier. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that the military was aware of the facility's location.
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55-bed free palliative care centre to open near Bengaluru’s Nelamangala
Bengaluru: A new 55-bed palliative care centre for terminally ill patients, named the Nemmadi Centre for Palliative Care, will be inaugurated near Nelamangala on Sunday. The facility will offer all services completely free of cost.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald on Saturday, the centre has been set up by the Sukruthi Charitable Trust in collaboration with Rotary Bangalore Midtown. Around Rs 20 crore has been invested in the project, which will operate without a billing counter, ensuring that families do not have to pay for treatment.
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The centre will provide comprehensive palliative care, including medical support, counselling for patients and their families, and bereavement care. The facility aims to help families cope with the physical and emotional challenges of caring for terminally ill patients.
“A cornerstone of the project was the generous donation of land by former MLC E Krishnappa, which made the centre possible,” DH quoted Palani Loganathan as saying.
The inauguration ceremony will be attended by Madhusudan Sai, founder of the Sri Madhusudan Sai Global Humanitarian Mission, Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and Rajya Sabha MP Dr C.N. Manjunath who also serves as the chief medical advisor to the centre will also be present, along with several senior government officials and healthcare leaders.
