Two Red Cross staff were killed in a strike on their home in Gaza’s Khan Younis, the ICRC said Sunday, issuing an urgent call for a cease-fire amid escalating violence.

"We are heartbroken by the death of two dear colleagues, Ibrahim Eid and Ahmad Abu Hilal," the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a social media statement.

The strike was carried out on Saturday, the ICRC added, without saying who staged the attack. Israel has acknowledged, however, that it carried out strikes in Khan Younis on Saturday.

The ICRC said that Eid had worked as a weapons contamination officer for the ICRC and that Hilal had been a security guard at a Red Cross hospital.

"Their killing points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza," said the statement.

"The ICRC reiterates its urgent call for a ceasefire and for the respect and protection of civilians, including medical, humanitarian, relief and civil defence personnel."

As part of its genocidal war since the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, incursion, Israel resumed strikes in Gaza after the end of a cease-fire in March and has stepped up the campaign since May 17.