According to the Palestinians, Israel shot dozens of people seeking help, Israel says the dead were trampled. US Vice President Kamala Harris demands an immediate ceasefire.
Demands to clarify the events of last Thursday are growing worldwide.
Dozens of people were killed when thousands rushed to aid trucks on their way to northern Gaza on the Al Rashid coastal road on Thursday.
The rush concretizes the great distress caused by the war in Gaza, says a Middle East expert Saana Keskitalo from the conflict resolution organization CMI.
People are without basic goods like food and so they ran to the aid trucks. The crisis is estimated to be greatest in northern Gaza.
According to Keskitalo, desperation and emergency increase the pressure especially on Israel’s supporter, the United States.
– I can’t say whether this can lead to the end of the war, but it is probably a turning point, Keskitalo says.
The vice president of the United States started demanding a cease-fire most clearly over the weekend Terrible Harris.
– Considering the amount of suffering in Gaza, a ceasefire must be established immediately. The ceasefire must continue for at least six weeks, said Vice President Harris on Sunday.
During the ceasefire, according to Harris, hostages must be released and a significant amount of aid must be delivered to Gaza.
Harris meets with a representative of Israel’s so-called martial law government Benny Gantz on Monday in Washington. Gantz will reportedly meet Harris without the hard-line prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu consent.
Israel maintains that people were trampled or left under the trucks
Thousands of people rushed to the aid trucks on Thursday. In the videos shared by Israel, people look like hordes of ants filmed from the air.
According to Gaza health officials, more than 100 people died, many of them because Israeli soldiers shot those who ran towards the trucks. More than 700 were injured.
The UN team that visited the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza also says that many of the injuries are gunshot wounds.
Israel repeated on Sunday that people were trampled.
– According to our preliminary investigation, no attack was made against the aid transport. Most of the Palestinians were killed or injured after being trampled in the crowd, said a spokesman for the Israeli armed forces Daniel Hagari.
According to the news agency AFP, however, the Israeli party admitted that Israel opened fire because the people were perceived as a “threat”.
Among others, the foreign ministers of Germany and France have demanded a thorough investigation into Thursday’s events.
Al-Shifa patients with gunshot wounds
The wounded are being treated at Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.
– The injuries show that people have received gunshot wounds. Many of the injuries appear to have been caused by bullets or shrapnel. The injuries require surgery or intensive care, said a doctor in the hospital’s intensive care unit Ali Al-Ghaleed for the Chinese CCTV channel.
According to the doctors, some of the people have also been trampled or fallen under the truck, he says The New York Times.
The tragedy shows that there are still many people in the bombed northern part of Gaza, despite the fact that Israel urged people to move further south at the beginning of the war.
– You can forget that there are still hundreds of thousands of people in the northern parts. Not everyone can even move, and some have been able to return there since the conditions in southern Gaza are so difficult, Keskitalo says.
Saana Keskitalo reminds that there have never been completely safe areas in Gaza, which may have led to the fact that some have made the decision to stay at home rather than go on a completely unsafe escape journey.
The war has continued for almost five months since the extremist organization Hamas carried out terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
There are still around 130 people kidnapped from Israel held hostage by the extremist organization Hamas, of which 30 are known to have died. According to the region’s health administration, more than 30,000 people have died in Gaza.
Sources: AFP, Reuters