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United Nations leaders and others in the international community have fiercely denounced the escalation of violence against humanitarian sites and aid workers in Gaza after Israeli forces killed at least 18 people sheltering at a U.N. school complex overnight on Wednesday, including six staff members of a U.N. relief agency.

Israeli airstrikes hit the United Nations al-Jaouni Preparatory Boys School in central Gazas Nuseirat refugee camp. The school complex, like others in Gaza, has been turned into a shelter for thousands of displaced Palestinians to receive food, water and medical aid since the U.S.-funded military offensive on the territory began in retaliation for an Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist strike on Israelis.

The strikes on the school killed at least 18 people , including women and children, according to UNRWA, the primary U.N. agency providing relief to Palestinians. The attack also killed six UNRWA employees in what the agency said was the deadliest single incident for its staff, bringing the total number of UNRWA workers killed in Gaza to at least 220 in the last 11 months.

This is one of the most difficult days that weve faced in UNRWA in Gaza during the most difficult conflict that weve ever faced, Sam Rose, senior deputy director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, told Al Jazeera on Thursday. Staff in the offices are in shock. Theyre grieving, theyre despairing.

Its devastating, its horrific, its all these superlatives, he said. And just the scale and the rapidity of the incidents are just too difficult to get our heads around sometimes.

\"This is one of the most difficult days that we've faced in @UNRWA in #Gaza during the most difficult conflict that we've ever faced.\"

Sam Rose to @AJEnglish on the horrific attack on one of our schools in Nuseirat yesterday, where six of our colleagues were killed. pic.twitter.com/FktfwjF9xI

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"This is one of the most difficult days that we've faced in @UNRWA in #Gaza during the most difficult conflict that we've ever faced."

Sam Rose to @AJEnglish on the horrific attack on one of our schools in Nuseirat yesterday, where six of our colleagues were killed. pic.twitter.com/FktfwjF9xI
UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 12, 2024

Israeli officials have defended the attack, claiming that some of the UNRWA employees were members of Hamas, a claim the Israel Defense Forces often make regarding attacks on the agencys aid workers. Israel has so far not provided any concrete evidence, though, according to Stphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres.

The IDF stated that they had targeted a command-and-control center in the compound. This incident must be independently and thoroughly investigated to ensure accountability, Dujarric said in a statement on Thursday .

The continued lack of effective protection for civilians in Gaza is unconscionable. Civilians and the infrastructure they rely on must be protected and the essential needs of civilians met, he added. The Secretary-General calls upon all parties to refrain from using schools, shelters or the areas around them for military purposes.

Wednesday was the fifth time that Israel had bombed the al-Jaouni school, according to UNRWA. Israeli forces frequently attack schools in Gaza by using the often-unsubstantiated claim that the structures are being used by Hamas. More than 90% of Gazas school buildings have been severely or partially damaged in airstrikes, according to a July survey by the Education Cluster , a coalition of aid groups led by UNICEF and Save the Children.