Israeli forces opened fire on Thursday as crowds gathered near a convoy of trucks carrying desperately needed aid in Gaza City, according to an Israeli military official who spoke with Gaza City health officials. It was said to be part of a chaotic situation in which people were killed or injured. on condition of anonymity.
Details of what happened are unclear, and officials on both sides offered wildly different accounts of the event. The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a statement that more than 100 people were killed and more than 700 injured in the “massacre.” Israeli officials acknowledged that troops fired, but said most of the civilians were killed or injured in a mob attack hundreds of yards away.
Gazans, especially those living in the northern part of the territory, are increasingly experiencing food insecurity. The United Nations and other relief groups are struggling to deliver supplies amid a nearly five-month Israeli military offensive as law and order collapses and Israel imposes restrictions on supplies. .
The Palestinian Authority's state news agency, Wafa, reported that “thousands of Israeli tanks opened fire with machine guns” as they waited for aid to arrive.
About 100 people injured in the gunfire were taken to Gaza City's Kamal Adwan Hospital, and the hospital's director, Hussam Abu Safiyah, said the wounded were being transferred to other hospitals in the north. Abu Safiyah said the hospital also received the bodies of 12 people who died in the shooting.
According to Israeli military officials, about 30 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were moved from the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and Gaza to northern Gaza along the coastal road.
Thousands of people surrounded the truck as it approached Gaza City around 4 a.m., trying to steal supplies, creating a huge traffic jam that left dozens dead and injured, with some being run over by aid trucks trying to rescue them. the paper said. The official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official said that a few hundred meters further south, at the tail end of the convoy, dozens of civilians who had rushed into the area in trucks approached Israeli forces and tanks securing the road. The official said the Israeli soldiers fired warning shots into the air and then opened fire on “those who posed a threat and refused to leave.”
He did not elaborate on whether anyone was killed or injured in the shooting and declined to provide an exact date.
Neither the Palestinian nor Israeli accounts could be confirmed. At least one eyewitness at the scene, doctor Yehia al-Masri, said he saw dozens of people with gunshot wounds and others on the streets either dead in the stampede or attacked by rescuers. He said he also saw bodies of people who appeared to be from the area. truck.
It is unclear who was supervising the convoy Thursday. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main UN aid agency serving Palestinians, said: Said On Thursday, he announced that neither his agency, UNRWA, nor any other UN agencies were “involved in this distribution.”
Palestinian leaders, Arab officials and international aid groups condemned the shooting and chaos at the convoy, with Hamas officials warning that the killings could derail talks towards a ceasefire agreement.
president biden He said Thursday that he had not yet learned the details of what happened, but also believed the death could jeopardize diplomatic negotiations. Asked if the shooting would complicate negotiations, he said, “I know it will.”
Gaza has been under near-total siege since the war began on October 7 with an Israeli offensive led by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has ruled Gaza for years.aid supplies Israel began shelling and then invaded the territory, creating a critical situation for them.
The United Nations recently warned that at least a quarter of Gaza's population is “on the brink of starvation,” and the Gaza Ministry of Health said Wednesday that at least six children in the area have died from dehydration and malnutrition. Announced.
The ministry said the death toll at the convoy site on Thursday would rise further as injured Palestinians arrived at Al Shifa Hospital and a lack of medical staff “could not cope with the amount and type of injuries.” He said it was expected. Equipment and staff.
Late last month, strikes struck crowds waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City, killing several people and injuring dozens, according to Gaza health authorities.
The World Food Program announced last week that it had temporarily suspended food deliveries to the isolated northern Gaza region due to challenges in safely delivering aid to the region. UNRWA Director Lazzarini said on Sunday that the agency was last able to deliver aid to northern Gaza more than a month ago.
