Gaza: Israelis shot Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid – at least 100 killed

A tragic event occurred in Gaza where dozens of Palestinians were killed during the transport and distribution of humanitarian aid.

According to information reported by international media, more than 107 people lost their lives while trying to obtain humanitarian aid, food and medicine.

The Gaza side insists that the 107 dead are the result of shooting by Israeli forces, while Israel maintains that the vast majority of those killed are from trampling during the distribution of humanitarian aid and from shots fired by IDF forces – when they felt threatened by the army. Israeli. Horde – 10 people killed.

An investigation is underway into how the accident occurred.

What do Gaza, doctors and wounded say?

• Ministry of Health in Gaza: The Hamas-run ministry claimed that 107 people were killed by Israeli fire while waiting for help at the Nabulsi roundabout.
• Palestinian President: Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, described what happened as “a hideous massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation army.”
• the doctors: Some in the area reported receiving bodies and seriously injured people with gunshot wounds to the upper part of their bodies.
• Hospital heads: The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza City, Hossam Abu Safiya, said that he received 10 bodies and dozens of wounded. The head of the hospital's ambulance service, Fares Afaneh, told the Associated Press that paramedics who arrived at the scene found “dozens or hundreds” lying on the ground.
• injured: Kamel Abu Nahl, a man being treated for a gunshot wound at Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press that the Israeli army shot him in the leg after they opened fire twice on the crowd.
• agitation: Hamas issued a statement accusing Israel of committing a targeted “heinous massacre.”

What is Israel defending?

An Israeli government spokesman said that truck drivers “rammed” the crowd and killed “dozens of people,” while The Guardian quoted an Israeli source as saying that soldiers opened fire on the crowd surrounding the trucks when they felt threatened.

The Israeli army said that Gazans were injured as a result of being pushed and trampled while they surrounded aid trucks and looted them, in addition to being run over by trucks. He further claimed that gunmen also opened fire in the area while looting supplies. The army said it did not fire on the crowd that was rushing to the main aid convoy. He claimed that the forces opened fire on a number of Gazans who moved towards the soldiers and a tank at an Israeli army checkpoint, which endangered the soldiers, after they rushed to the last truck in the convoy south. As the Israel Times reported, according to an initial IDF investigation into the incident, the vast majority of casualties were the result of being run over and rammed by aid trucks. According to the same source, a preliminary investigation conducted by the Israeli army found that some trucks were able to continue north, where gunmen allegedly opened fire on the convoy near the sands and looted it. Dozens of Palestinians who rushed the last truck in the convoy, south, began moving towards an Israeli army tank and soldiers at the army checkpoint. The investigation stated that an officer in the area ordered the soldiers to fire warning shots into the air while the Palestinians were a few dozen meters away, as well as to shoot at the legs of those who continued to move toward the forces. 10 of the dead were killed by Israeli fire.

The White House: A serious incident. We mourn the loss of innocent lives

The White House said it was looking into reports of Israel shooting at Palestinians waiting for aid near Gaza City, describing it as a “serious incident.”

“We mourn the loss of innocent lives and recognize the urgent humanitarian situation in Gaza, where innocent Palestinians are trying to feed their families,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

“This underscores how important it is to expand and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including through a possible temporary ceasefire.”

Biden: Ceasefire talks will be complicated

Biden says reports of shooting at a crowd of aid trucks will complicate ceasefire talks he had hoped to reach by Monday.

The talks took place in Cairo and Paris with the participation of Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators.

A six-week ceasefire was proposed, including a hostage exchange with Palestinian prisoners.

UN relief official: Life is draining from Gaza at an alarming rate

The UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs stated that “life is being drained from Gaza at an alarming rate.”

Martin Griffiths: “Even nearly five months after the brutal Holocaust, Gaza still has the power to shock us. I am horrified by reports that hundreds of people were killed and injured during the aid delivery operation west of Gaza City today. This comes at a time when the death toll across Gaza since October 7 has reached 30,000 people. Life is being drained from Gaza at an alarming rate.”

Video published by the Israeli Armed Forces

Israel published footage that it said showed the crowd surrounding the trucks, as one of the trucks moved forward slightly, and people were on either side of it, before it stopped again.

A journalist in Gaza City told the BBC that Israeli tanks fired on the crowd that had come to get supplies.

Horrific videos posted on social media show the dead in Gaza City being loaded into empty aid trucks and a donkey cart.

Hamas: Hostage negotiations may end

Hamas issued a statement warning that it may stop participating in hostage negotiations after today's incident, which Gaza health authorities said led to the deaths of at least 104 Palestinians searching for humanitarian aid amid widespread food shortages in the Gaza Strip.

Reuters reported that Hamas said in its statement: “The negotiations conducted by the movement's leadership are not an open process at the expense of the blood of our people.”

“Shocked,” declares a United Nations official

The United Nations Coordinator for the Coordination of Humanitarian Operations, Martin Griffiths, said today that he was shocked by reports of deaths and injuries during the transport of aid supplies west of Gaza City.

“Even after nearly five months of violent hostilities, Gaza still has the capacity to shock us,” Griffiths said in a post on the X platform. “I was shocked by the news that hundreds of people were killed and injured while transporting supplies,” he added. Aid west of Gaza City today.

Health authorities in Gaza said today that Israeli fire on people who were waiting to receive aid near Gaza City killed 104 Palestinians and injured 280 others, and a hospital said it received 10 bodies and dozens of wounded.

Israel disputed the death toll announced by health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, saying hundreds of people surrounded trucks carrying aid, and in the confusion many were run over or injured, although it acknowledged that its forces later opened fire.

An Israeli government spokesman initially blamed Palestinian drivers of trucks carrying aid, saying they drove into the crowd amid the chaos.

An Israeli army official later spoke of two separate incidents when the truck convoy entered the northern Gaza Strip from the south along the main coastal road.

He said that in the first incident, hundreds of people surrounded trucks carrying aid, and in the confusion, dozens were injured or killed after the trucks ran over or collided with them. He said that while the trucks were leaving, a second incident occurred as some people running towards the convoy of trucks approached Israeli forces, including a tank, which then opened fire.

He told reporters, “The soldiers fired warning shots in the air and then opened fire on those who posed a threat and did not move away.” “From our perspective, this is what we understand. We are still assessing the circumstances.”

He said he did not believe the death toll announced by the Palestinian Authority, but he did not provide any Israeli estimate of the death toll. “I don't have a number, it was a thoughtful response,” he said.

Ashraf Al-Kandara, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, rejected the Israeli version of events. He said that the statements show that Israel has “deliberate intentions to carry out the new crime and massacre” and that the death toll may rise.