site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian Citizen Employed in UN System Dies in Gaza, Foreign Ministry Reports

A Bulgarian citizen employed in the United Nations system died in Gaza Strip on March 19, the Foreign Ministry said on its website on Wednesday quoting preliminary information.

Further information will be made public at a later stage, once the Bulgarian side is informed of the outcome of the investigation being carried out by the competent authorities into the circumstances surrounding the incident, the statement said.

The United Nations said a foreign staffer was killed and five other workers were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the site of a U.N. headquarters in central Gaza City, Reuters reported later on Wednesday. Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of the U.N. office for Project Services, said: "Israel knew that this was a U.N. premises, that people were living, staying and working there, it is a compound. It is a very well-known place." An explosive device was dropped or fired on the premises, he told a press conference in Brussels. "This was not an accident," he added. "What’s happening in Gaza is unconscionable."

The Israeli military denied it had struck the U.N. compound in Deir al-Balah, Reuters added. It said it had hit a Hamas site in northern Gaza where it had detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory.