IDF investigation finds Israeli tank fire responsible for death of UN staffer
Initial findings in an ongoing Israel Defense Forces investigation found that Israeli tank fire caused damage to a United Nations structure in central Gaza in March, killing one UN staffer and injuring five others.
The incident occurred one day after the ceasefire collapsed, according to a release from the IDF on Thursday. The IDF said it attacked the structure because of "suspicions of enemy presence."
UN staffer Marin Marinov was killed in the Deir al Balah strike, UN Secretary General Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told ABC News in an email in March.
The injured staffers were Neil Arnold, Joel Fournet, Nicolas Berthon, Alexandru Baban and David Petrov, Haq said.
The IDF initially denied involvement in the strike, saying it "did not strike a UN compound in Deir al Balah." On Thursday, it apologized for "the unintentional harm to the UN employee and share the grief of the family."
"The IDF continues to conduct thorough investigation processes in order to draw lessons and examine additional steps to prevent incidents of this type," it said. "The IDF sees great importance in continuing the dialogue with international organizations, as part of efforts to coordinate, draw lessons, and prevent similar incidents in the future."
The UN has opened its own fact-finding mission to learn more surrounding the circumstances of the strike.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, UN under-secretary-general and UNOPS executive director, responded to the IDF's latest statement on the incident, saying: "We acknowledge the reported initial findings of the Israeli Defense Forces today that a tank round was the cause of the death of a UNOPS colleague in Deir al Balah. This is consistent with known facts to the UN: this incident was a result of a tank round into a fully deconflicted UNOPS premises. Full accountability must be ensured with respect to the grave violations of international law that have been committed."
A week after the incident, the UN said it was "comfortable with the assertion" that rounds were fired by an Israeli tank during its initial gathering of security information, Haq told ABC News last month.
The UN secretary general announced that the organization planned to "reduce the Organization's footprint in Gaza" on March 24, four days after the strike.
"In the past week, Israel carried out devastating strikes on Gaza, claiming the lives of hundreds of civilians, including United Nations personnel, with no humanitarian aid being allowed to enter the Strip since early March," Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN secretary general, said in a statement in March. "As a result, the Secretary-General has taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organization's footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar and our concern over the protection of civilians intensifies."
The Israeli government has blocked the delivery of all goods, food and medical supplies into Gaza for more than eight weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was blocking aid because Hamas refused to release more hostages in an extension of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Fifty-eight hostages remain in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
The March 19 strike brought the number of UN staff members killed in Gaza since Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, to 280 people, the UN secretary general said in March.
The March UN building strike is one of several incidents where the IDF has acknowledged accountability.
It recently took responsibility for misidentifying targets and firing on a convoy of emergency medical vehicles on March 23, killing 15 medical and humanitarian workers.
It's unclear from the IDF if any Israeli soldiers will be held accountable for deadly UN strike.
