DUBAI, June 18. /TASS/. At least 193 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have been killed in the Gaza Strip since tensions escalated between Israel and Palestine in October 2023.

"Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for aid workers. Since the war began, 193 UNRWA colleagues have been killed - the highest death toll in UN history," the UN agency wrote on X.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Palestinian enclave with a view to destroying Hamas military and political infrastructure and releasing all hostages. In late November 2023, a temporary humanitarian ceasefire was brokered by Egypt and Qatar that lasted a week, during which 110 hostages were released, according to Israel. On December 1, the ceasefire was violated and fighting resumed, continuing to this day.