Israel has denied accusations that it is connected to the artillery strike on UN base in Deir al-Balah on March 19, which killed Bulgarian citizen Marin Marinov, an employee of the organization. This was announced by the spokesperson of the Israeli Foreign Ministry in an official statement, News.bg reports.
„The UN investigation team itself did not even arrive at the scene of the incident. Despite this, the organization rushed to publish another unfounded slander against Israel. No standards, no professionalism - nothing prevents the Secretary-General from his latest attempt to defame Israel“, the statement says.
For its part, the UN accused the Israeli army of a tank opening fire on base of the organization, where international peacekeeping personnel were stationed. In addition to Marinov's death, six more people were seriously injured, some of whom are in critical condition. The injured are citizens of France, Moldova, North Macedonia, Palestine and the United Kingdom, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev said that there is no evidence that the death of Captain Marinov from the UN mission in Gaza was caused by a deliberate military attack. He stressed that the current situation in Gaza significantly complicates the investigation by any country, except for the institutions and organizations that are on the ground.