(United Nations) Minute of silence and flags at half-mast: the UN on Monday paid a global tribute to its more than 100 collaborators killed in the war between Israel and Hamas.
In Bangkok, Tokyo, Beijing, Beirut, Geneva, New York… the blue and white flag of the United Nations was lowered in tribute to the more than 100 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) who died in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war.
PHOTO ANGELA WEISS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
This is “the highest number of UN humanitarian workers killed in a conflict in such a short time,” lamented UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“They will never be forgotten,” he insisted, after observing a minute of silence at the United Nations headquarters in New York at 9:30 a.m. local time, like everywhere the organization has representation.
“UNRWA staff in Gaza appreciate that the UN is lowering the flag around the world,” commented UNRWA director for Gaza, Tom White, from Rafah, quoted in a press release.
“In Gaza, however, we must fly the UN colors high to show that we are still standing and serving the people of Gaza,” he added.
Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip without respite for five weeks in response to the unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 on its soil.
Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel and around 240 taken hostage during this attack, according to Israeli authorities.
Israeli bombardments from the air, land and sea have caused at least 11,100 casualties in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them civilians, including more than 4,600 children, according to the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza.
In New York and Geneva, none of the flags of the 193 UN member countries were raised; only the UN flag at half-mast flew in front of the imposing buildings.
Iman, Ahmed, Samir, Mohammed… In the hall of the New York headquarters of the UN, the names of the more than 100 collaborators killed in Gaza were listed in front of dozens of their colleagues, some of whom carried white sheets of paper stamped with the words “ Stop the fighting” or “Protect civilians”.
“We are gathered here today […] to pay tribute to our courageous colleagues who sacrificed their lives while serving under the flag of the United Nations,” declared on the other side of the Atlantic the director of the UN in Geneva, the Russian Tatiana Valovaya, before collecting.
“Their memory and the imprint they left will remain forever. Their unwavering dedication to peace, justice and the well-being of others will be our guide and a reminder of the importance of the mission we share,” added the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Under the UN flag
Tributes were also held at UN buildings in Kathmandu and Kabul, where the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Rosa Otunbayeva, led some 250 people to observe a minute of silence.
This global tribute, announced last week, comes the day after the UN announced “a significant number of dead and injured” in the “bombing” of the headquarters of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Gaza.
Unrwa announced on Friday the deaths of 101 of its employees since the start of the war.
The agency said it currently hosts around 780,000 people in more than 150 facilities located in the Gaza Strip. “These people came to seek protection and security in these shelters, under the flag of the United Nations,” notes UNRWA.