US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls for the protection of humanitarian workers after UN staffers were killed in Gaza, and says a US-backed ceasefire and hostage deal is the best way to ensure their safety, Paralel.Az reports citing Times of Israel.

“We need to see humanitarian sites protected, and that’s something that we continue to raise with Israel,” Blinken tells reporters on a visit to Poland.

Rescuers said the Israeli strike on a school in central Gaza last night killed 18 people, including the six UNRWA staffers.

Israel’s military said it hit a Hamas control center located inside the Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat. Though inactive amid the war, the school has been used as a shelter by displaced Palestinians.

According to the IDF, Hamas was using the school to plan and carry out attacks against troops and Israel. The IDF said it carried out “many steps” to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, including using precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.