World
UN flags at half-mast for staff killed in Gaza
A security official looks on as the United Nations flag flies at half-mast to mourn the lives of UN workers lost during the war between Israel and Hamas, at the at the United Nations office in Nairobi. — AFP pic

BANGKOK, Nov 13 — Flags flew at half-mast at United Nations compounds across Asia today, as staff observed a minute’s silence in memory of colleagues killed in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The blue and white UN flag was lowered at 9.30am local time at offices in Bangkok, Tokyo and Beijing, a day after the world body reported "a significant number of deaths and injuries” in strikes on a facility in Gaza.

Advertising
Advertising

Events were also held in Kathmandu and Kabul, where the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva led about 250 people in observing the minute’s silence.

The UN agency for supporting Palestinians (UNRWA) announced on Friday that more than 100 of its employees had died in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.

Israel has been bombing targets across the Gaza Strip since Hamas fighters carried out a deadly attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7.

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas attacks and around 240 people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

More than 11,000 people, many of them children, have been killed in Gaza in retaliatory strikes by Israel, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory. — AFP

Related Articles

 

You May Also Like