Israeli Military Admits its Forces Killed UN Worker in Gaza

Gaza (Quds News Network)- The Israeli military has admitted to killing a United Nations worker with tank fire, after initially denying responsibility for the attack in the war-torn Gaza Strip last month.

After a UN staff member was killed when a UN compound in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza was damaged on 19 March, the Israeli military claimed it had not struck the site.

On Thursday, the military said that the initial findings of its investigation into the attack indicated its forces had in fact killed the UN worker after wrongly identifying the building as containing an “enemy presence”.

It said in a statement: “The building was struck due to assessed enemy presence and was not identified by the forces as a UN facility.”

These preliminary findings have been shared with the UN and the full conclusion will also be provided, it said.

The assault, which killed Bulgarian UN worker Marin Valev Marinov and seriously injured five other UN personnel, came a day after Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza after violating a two-month fragile ceasefire.

At the time, UN Secretary General António Guterres called for a full investigation into the attack, while a spokesperson said: “The locations of all UN premises are known to the parties to the conflict, who are bound by international law to protect them and maintain their absolute inviolability.”

Following the attack, the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) said that “explosive ordnance was dropped or fired” at a guesthouse, which was in an “isolated” location. Its executive director, Jorge Moreira da Silva, said it was “not an accident”.

Video filmed by CNN at the scene showed a hole in the side of the building.

Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member who reviewed the footage, said weapon fragments from the scene are consistent with the M339, an Israeli tank projectile.

Damage from the building is also consistent with a tank round, Ball said and points to a pretty direct impact.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director at Armament Research Services (ARES) who also analyzed the footage, said the “remnants appear to be from an Israeli 120 mm tank projectile, most likely the M339 multi-purpose model.”