The Israeli military has admitted that its forces were responsible for the death of a United Nations worker in Gaza last month, following an earlier denial. In a statement released on Thursday, 25 April, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said preliminary findings showed that a tank shell fired by its troops killed Marin Valev Marinov, a Bulgarian employee with the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), during an attack on UN premises in Deir al-Balah on 19 March. The strike, according to the IDF, was based on a misidentification of the building as housing an “enemy presence,” and it was not recognized as a UN facility at the time. The IDF expressed “deep sorrow” over the incident and said it had shared its initial findings with the UN, pledging to conduct a full review and take steps to prevent similar incidents in the future. UNOPS confirmed that the attack struck a fully deconflicted UN compound and described the incident as a “grave violation of international law.” In a statement, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva stressed that humanitarian premises must be protected by all parties and called…
