U.N. guard killed by Israeli soldiers, agency says

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the Israeli government Thursday to investigate the killing of a U.N. staff member by Israeli soldiers.

The staff member, a guard for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, was en route to a West Bank refugee camp when the U.N. ambulance in which he was riding was hit by Israeli gunfire.

"This tragedy serves as a graphic reminder of the need for the parties to respect humanitarian law and provide security for all civilians, including the staff of international and non-governmental organizations active in the region," Annan said in a written statement.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had seen the report about the incident, but had no immediate comment about it.

The guard, identified as Kamal Hamdan, 40, is the first U.N. staff member to be killed in the occupied territories since the current intifada began in September 2000, the U.N. said. Hamdan had worked for UNRWA for 15 years and leaves behind his wife and five children, the agency said.

It said Israeli soldiers fired several bullets at the "clearly marked, well-lit U.N. ambulance that also had a U.N. flag mounted on it." Hamdan died from a single gunshot that struck him in the back and penetrated his heart, killing him instantly.

The guard and a U.N. medical team were returning from a hospital after transporting a wounded resident from the Tulkarem camp in the northern West Bank, UNRWA said.

The resident died en route to the hospital after an Israeli armored vehicle and tank stopped the ambulance at the camp entrance and detained it for about 20 minutes, the agency said.

The UNRWA has been in operation since 1950, created to take care of the roughly 3.8 million Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and neighboring countries.