The United Nations announced on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into an Israeli bombing that targeted a guesthouse belonging to the United Nations Office for Project Services in the central Gaza Strip.

This was stated by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, at a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

Haq expressed his hope that the Israeli authorities would cooperate in uncovering the circumstances of the attack that resulted in the death of a UN employee on Wednesday.

He explained that "Israel's targeting of the guest house in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip resulted in the death of Marin Valev Marinov (51 years old), a Bulgarian national, in addition to the injury of five UN employees."

Haq pointed out that five UN staff members were killed in the past few days as a result of bombs dropped by Israel on Gaza.

At least 280 UN staff have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Since the resumption of the Israeli war at dawn on Tuesday until Thursday evening, 591 Palestinians have been killed and 1,042 others injured, the majority of them women and children, according to the latest figures announced by the Government Information Office in Gaza.