Israeli military takes responsibility for attack on U.N. house in Gaza
JERUSALEM — Israeli tank fire was responsible for a deadly strike on a United Nations guesthouse in the Gaza Strip last month, Israel’s military said Thursday, reversing its repeated denials of involvement in the attack, which prompted the U.N. to significantly draw down its international presence in the enclave.
The March 19 attack on the compound in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed Bulgarian aid worker Marin Marinov, 51, and badly injured five international staffers, including a British citizen.
“According to the findings collected so far, the examination indicates that the fatality was caused by tank fire from IDF troops operating in the area,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday, describing preliminary findings from an internal probe into the incident. “The building was struck due to assessed enemy presence and was not identified by the forces as a UN facility.”
The admission Thursday confirmed reporting earlier this month by The Washington Post, which found the explosions at the guesthouse were very likely caused by two Israeli tank shells, based on consultations with experts who analyzed exclusive photos of the scene. CNN also found munitions fragments consistent with an Israeli M339 tank shell.
The IDF previously denied its troops were involved. “Contrary to reports, the IDF did not strike a UN compound in Deir el Balah. The IDF calls on media outlets to act with caution regarding unverified reports,” the military said in a statement on March 19.
A day later, when The Post shared the coordinates of the guesthouse with the military to inquire further, the IDF media desk said “there was no military activity at that time and location.”
According to The Post’s reporting, on the morning of March 19, employees from the U.N. Office for Project Services, known as UNOPS, arrived at the house in central Gaza to examine damage to the roof, which had been “impacted” in an incident the previous night while the building was empty, per an internal U.N. memo.
Around 11:30 a.m., as the UNOPS group sat outside after finishing its work, a shell appeared to burst in the air, killing Marinov and injuring the additional staffers, according to two U.N. staffers and a third person, all of whom were briefed on the incident. Two minutes later, another inbound shell punched a hole in a second-floor exterior wall and exploded inside, they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The Associated Press published a graphic video of the aftermath, in which a person appears to be lying on the floor of the patio in a pool of blood.
At The Post’s request, three munitions experts reviewed the video as well as 10 photos showing damage to the compound and more than a half-dozen individual munitions fragments. They concluded the damage was consistent with two Israeli tank rounds, and the fragments seen in the photos were very likely from at least one Israeli-made M339 high-explosive, multipurpose round.
Satellite imagery examined by an expert showed at least one Israeli tank, along with other military vehicles, positioned a little more than two miles from the guesthouse before and after the strike.
The United Nations temporarily evacuated 30 staffers, a third of its international workforce in Gaza, in the wake of the strike, citing its inability to guarantee the safety of its personnel. The reduction in force came as Palestinians in Gaza face a spiraling humanitarian crisis after Israel imposed a total blockade on aid entering the enclave in early March, in what aid organizations, rights groups and even Israel’s staunch European allies have warned is a violation of international law.
The guesthouse hit last month was often used to house senior U.N. officials who visited the devastated enclave, and U.N. staff members said they had considered it to be one of the safest sites in Gaza.
“The locations of all UN premises are known to the parties to the conflict, who are bound by international law to protect them and maintain their absolute inviolability,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement shortly after the attack. At least 280 U.N. employees have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war there in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, he added.
Responding to Guterres’ remarks a week later, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oren Marmorstein wrote on X “the initial examination found no connection to IDF activity whatsoever,” and accused the United Nations of “baseless slander.”
Exactly a month later, the IDF admitted its tank fire was to blame and said it “regrets this serious incident and continues to conduct thorough review processes to draw operational lessons and evaluate additional measures to prevent such events in the future.”
“We express our deep sorrow for the loss and send our condolences to the family,” it added.
The full IDF probe of the incident will be completed in the coming days, the IDF said, and the full findings will be presented to U.N. officials.
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• Loveluck reported from London. Alon Rom and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv, Meg Kelly in Washington, Imogen Piper in London and Abbie Cheeseman in Beirut contributed.