British charity worker injured in strike on UN facility in Gaza

A British charity worker has been injured in a fatal strike on a UN facility in the Gaza Strip, the demining charity he works for has said.

The 51-year-old was among the five people injured in an explosion at a UN Office for Project Services (Unops) facility in Deir al-Balah that also killed a UN worker, Darren Cormack, the chief executive of the Mines Advisory Group (Mag) said in a statement.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer called for “restraint” during a telephone conversation with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday evening amid a renewed series of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

However, a spokesperson for Israel’s military said it was not responsible for the Wednesday morning strike that left the British citizen injured.

Mr Cormack said: “Our colleague, who is 51 and British, was conducting an explosive hazards assessment at a Unops building when the incident happened this morning.

“He was transferred to hospital in Gaza for treatment and has now been evacuated to a hospital in Israel. His condition is not known.

“We are in contact with both his family and United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and doing everything we can to offer our support to them at this time.

The 51-year-old was seconded to the UN Mine Action Service at the time of the strike, Mr Cormack said, adding: “The UN has confirmed that today’s incident did not occur in the course of normal explosive ordnance disposal operations and resulted from ordnance being fired at or dropped on the building in which the team was working.

“It is shocking that a humanitarian facility should be subject to attacks of this nature and that humanitarian workers are being killed and injured in the line of duty.

“Attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law.”

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of Unops, declined to say who he thought had carried out the strike, but said the blast was not accidental or related to demining activity.

The Israeli military, which has carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes throughout Gaza since early on Tuesday, denied reports that it had targeted the UN compound and said the explosion was not caused by Israeli fire.

Mr Moreira da Silva said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday before direct strikes on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the UN team member was killed and their British colleague injured.

He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that it was aware of the facility’s location.

Sir Keir spoke to Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday night and called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be reinstated.

A Downing Street spokesperson added: “The Prime Minister underscored that he is deeply concerned by the return to fighting and urged for Israeli restraint.

“The Prime Minister underlined the need for all parties to urgently come back to the table, so that a ceasefire could be reinstated to see all hostages released and an increase of aid into Gaza.

“Securing a two-state solution that will guarantee security and stability for Israel, alongside a sovereign and viable Palestine state was the only way forward, he added.

“The leaders looked forward to speaking soon.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched its new offensive on Tuesday, with 678 wounded.

The Israeli military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.

Nearly 49,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, according to local health officials, and 90% of the population in the Gaza Strip has been displaced.

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

While most of the hostages have been released, 59 remain although more than half of those are believed to be dead.