Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills UN aid worker, 70 members of his extended family

An Israeli airstrike on Friday killed a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aid worker and his wife, and their five children. Over 70 members of the UN aid worker's extended family were also reportedly killed in the attack.

An official statement by Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, read: “I am deeply saddened to announce the death of our UNDP colleague and his family in Gaza today. Issam Al Mughrabi (56), his wife Lamya’a (53), and his children Mohammad (32), Suad (30), Lama (27), Luai (23), Obaideh (13), were killed by an Israeli air strike near Gaza City today. The airstrike also reportedly killed more than 70 members of his extended family.”

Mughrabi and his family's death in Gaza City comes at a time when the Gaza Health Ministry has reported approximately 20,000 deaths as a result of Israeli combat operations following the October 7 Hamas attack, with an unknown number of civilians included in the count.

Relevant to the death of the aid worker, this conflict has also seen an unusually high death toll for UN workers who continue to operate within the enclave, as Israel continues its conflict against Hamas and its affiliates. 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) alone, which employs thousands of aid workers within Gaza, has reported at least 136 deaths within its ranks.

These deaths come at a time when the UN as a whole continues to insist on a complete ceasefire as a precondition to getting more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip. 

But such a ceasefire seems like an unlikely prospect at the moment, with Israel refusing to stand down and the US supporting its stance within the UN with its veto privilege.   

On Friday, while a resolution calling for aid and rescue efforts in the Strip alongside the opening of a humanitarian corridor was passed, the resolution in question had no mention of a full ceasefire to avoid the inevitable US veto.