The Israeli army says the Palestinians died after being trampled in the crowd and crushed by aid trucks.
Israeli soldiers shot at least 112 Palestinians who were in line for aid in northern Gaza on Thursday morning, the Gaza Ministry of Health says. In addition, according to the ministry, around 760 were injured.
The issue was reported by, among others, a web magazine The Times of Israelnews channel Al-Jazeera and news agencies AFP and Reuters.
About 30 aid trucks were on their way to Rimal’s residential area, when thousands of people rushed to them.
– We went to get some flour. Then the Israeli army started shooting at us, an eyewitness tells Al-Jazeera.
A video verified by Al-Jazeera shows dozens of bodies and wounded people being loaded into trucks when ambulances cannot reach the scene. Staff at Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital in northern Gaza, say they cannot cope with such a large number of injured and serious injuries. The hospital is partially operational after the Israeli raids and staff shortage.
The Israeli army (IDF), on the other hand, says based on its preliminary investigation that most of the Palestinians died by being trampled in the crowd or after being crushed under the trucks when they tried to collect food packages by force. The IDF also says it shot about ten Palestinians in the legs who approached “threateningly”.
Biden: Undermining peace talks
It is one of the deadliest single incidents since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.
President of the United States Joe Biden according to the incident will complicate the ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
UN Director of Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths says he is dismayed by the alleged shootings.
– Even after nearly five months of brutal violence, Gaza is still capable of shocking, writes Griffiths in the community service X.
President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas called the actions of the Israeli soldiers an “ugly massacre”.
It is very difficult to get aid to northern Gaza. According to aid organizations, Israel has prevented aid trucks from entering the area on several occasions. The famine has been greatest in northern Gaza. Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that the UN has not received aid to the region for more than a week.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 30,000 Palestinians have died in Israeli military operations so far.
The US Defense Ministry, the Pentagon, on the other hand, corrected the country’s defense minister on Thursday evening Finnish time Lloyd Austin’s previously reported casualty figures from Gaza. Austin previously said that Israel’s military operations have killed more than 25,000 women and children in Gaza. The Pentagon later clarified that the number was obtained from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry and that the number referred to all those killed in Gaza – not just children and women.
Sources: Reuters, AFP,
The story was updated at 11:30 p.m. with information corrected by the Pentagon on Gaza’s casualty figures.