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 employees stood in silent tribute to the greater than 100 colleagues killed in Gaza in the course of 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 go well with.
Secretary-General 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.
‘Since the beginning of this battle, greater than 100 UNRWA employees have misplaced their lives,’ he posted on X, previously Twitter, together with {a photograph} of senior U.N. officers somberly standing in silence.
‘They won’t ever be forgotten.’
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, 2nd left, and members of the U.N. company observe a minute of silence in reminiscence of colleagues killed in Gaza in the course of 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 staff 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. assist employees killed in a battle within the physique’s historical past, in keeping with the company.
‘UNRWA employees in Gaza admire the U.N. reducing the flag all over the world,’ the company director within the Gaza Strip, Tom White, mentioned in an announcement.
‘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 Relief and Works Agency (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 keeping with Israeli officers.
More than 11,000 folks, most of them civilians and plenty of of them youngsters, have been killed in Gaza in retaliatory strikes by Israel, in keeping with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.
‘Protect civilians’
In 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 ‘Stop the preventing’ and ‘Protect 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 impression they made will eternally stay,’ mentioned the top of the U.N.’s World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
‘Their unwavering dedication to peace, justice, and the well-being of others serves as a guiding gentle and a reminder of the significance of our shared mission.’
Events have been additionally held in Kathmandu and Kabul, the place the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva led about 250 folks in observing the minute’s silence.
UNRWA, which has 13,000 employees 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 employees, the United Nations reported ‘a big variety of deaths and accidents’ in strikes on one in all its services in Gaza that was housing internally displaced individuals.
At least 66 folks sheltering in UNWRA services have been killed since October 7, in keeping with the mission, with greater than 560 folks injured.