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United Nations – Flags flew at half-staff at U.N. services throughout the globe Monday together with on the physique’s New York headquarters, as workers stood in silent tribute to the greater than 100 colleagues killed in Gaza throughout the Israel-Hamas battle.
The blue and white United Nations flag was lowered at 9:30 a.m. native time at places of work in Bangkok, Tokyo and Beijing, with different U.N. venues following swimsuit.
Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres led U.N. personnel in observing a minute of silence at U.N. headquarters when the clock struck 9:30 a.m. in New York.
‘Because the begin of this battle, greater than 100 UNRWA workers have misplaced their lives,’ he posted on X, previously Twitter, together with {a photograph} of senior U.N. officers somberly standing in silence.
‘They may by no means be forgotten.’
U.N. Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres, 2nd left, and members of the U.N. company observe a minute of silence in reminiscence of colleagues killed in Gaza throughout the Israel-Hamas battle, at U.N. headquarters in New York, Nov. 13, 2023.
The U.N. company for supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) mentioned Monday that 102 of its workers had died and 27 had been injured within the Gaza Strip because the battle erupted simply over a month in the past – the very best variety of U.N. support employees killed in a battle within the physique’s historical past, in response to the company.
‘UNRWA workers in Gaza recognize the U.N. decreasing the flag all over the world,’ the company director within the Gaza Strip, Tom White, mentioned in a press release.
‘In Gaza nevertheless, now we have to maintain the UN flag flying excessive as an indication that we’re nonetheless standing and serving the folks of Gaza.’
Israel has been relentlessly bombarding the Gaza Strip since Hamas fighters carried out an October 7 assault on southern Israeli communities, the deadliest within the nation’s historical past.
An worker on the United Nations Aid and Works Company (UNRWA) for supporting Palestinians lowers the U.N. flag on the roof of the group’s regional places of work within the Lebanese capital of Beirut, Nov. 13, 2023.
About 1,200 folks, largely civilians, have been killed within the Hamas assaults and round 240 folks taken hostage, in response to Israeli officers.
Greater than 11,000 folks, most of them civilians and plenty of of them kids, have been killed in Gaza in retaliatory strikes by Israel, in response to the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.
‘Shield civilians’
Within the foyer of U.N. headquarters, the names of the staffers killed in Gaza have been learn out as dozens of colleagues listened. Some carried white sheets with the phrases ‘Cease the combating’ and ‘Shield civilians.’
In New York and Geneva, the company’s second-largest headquarters, not one of the flags of the 193 member international locations have been hoisted.
The U.N. flag flies at half-staff on the United Nations headquarters in Jerusalem on Nov. 13, 2023.
‘Their reminiscence and the affect they made will perpetually stay,’ mentioned the top of the U.N.’s World Well being Group, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
‘Their unwavering dedication to peace, justice, and the well-being of others serves as a guiding mild and a reminder of the significance of our shared mission.’
Occasions have been additionally held in Kathmandu and Kabul, the place the U.N. Secretary-Basic’s Particular Consultant for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva led about 250 folks in observing the minute’s silence.
UNRWA, which has 13,000 workers working all through Gaza, says it’s sheltering some 780,000 folks in additional than 150 services within the territory.
On Sunday, a day earlier than the worldwide tribute to fallen workers, the United Nations reported ‘a major variety of deaths and accidents’ in strikes on one in every of its services in Gaza that was housing internally displaced individuals.
At the least 66 folks sheltering in UNWRA services have been killed since October 7, in response to the mission, with greater than 560 folks injured.
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