Aid delivery deaths in Gaza spark outrage
Israeli forces fire as Palestinians rush for food, saying ‘stampede’ occurred
Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire on Palestinians scrambling for food aid on Thursday in a chaotic incident that the Hamas-run health ministry said killed 112 people, drawing sweeping condemnation worldwide.
Though there were conflicting reports on how the predawn incident unfolded, the Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries.
It also spurred heated exchange at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where Palestinian Ambassador Ibrahim Mohammad Khraishi confronted his Israeli counterpart about the reported casualties.
“Are these human shields? Are these Hamas combatants?” Khraishi asked.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, a Palestinian woman said: “We are under siege. Take pity on us. Ramadan is coming soon. People should look at us. Pity us.”
The United Nations said 2.2 million people — the vast majority of Gaza’s population — are threatened with famine, particularly in the north where destruction, fighting and looting make the delivery of food almost impossible.
“There were crowds of people, but the occupation (forces) kept firing toward us,” one young man said while lying on the dirty, crowded floor at Kamal Adwan Hospital waiting for treatment. He was among those wounded in the chaos.
Ali Awad Ashqir, who had gone to get some flour for his starving family, had been waiting for two hours when violence erupted.
“At approximately 4 am, the trucks began to arrive. The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he said.
Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said all casualties were hit by “bullets and shrapnel from occupation forces”.
Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry, denounced what he called a “massacre”, saying 760 people were also wounded and blaming Israeli troops.
Conflicting reports
Israeli sources confirmed to Agence France-Presse that Israeli forces at the scene did open fire, having perceived the crowds near the trucks as a “threat”.
But a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said many of the dead were crushed by the trucks themselves.
“Aid trucks were overwhelmed by people trying to loot and drivers plowed into the crowd of people, ultimately killing tens of people,” spokesman Avi Hyman said.
Umm Hamdan Abu Sultan, a woman waiting for aid near the scene, said: “They are the terrorists, not us.
“Our children are dying of hunger, we go to get a bag of flour to feed our children and they fire at them.”
Condemnation over the attack have poured in from around the world.
China is shocked by the incident and strongly condemns the attacks on civilians waiting for aid in Gaza, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.
“We mourn for the victims and send our sympathies to the injured,” Mao said.
China urges relevant parties, especially Israel, to immediately end the violence, protect the safety of civilians, and ensure the access of humanitarian aid so as to avoid an even worse humanitarian catastrophe.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the incident and was “appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict”.
Turkiye accused Israel of committing “another crime against humanity” and condemning the Gazans to “famine” as civilians scavenge for dwindling supplies of food.
“The fact that Israel ... this time targets innocent civilians in a queue for humanitarian aid, is evidence that (Israel) aims consciously and collectively to destroy the Palestinian people,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Saudi Arabia condemned the targeting of unarmed civilians and reiterated “the need to reach an immediate cease-fire”.
The United Arab Emirates also called for “an independent and transparent investigation, and the punishment” of those responsible, and warned of a “catastrophic and dangerous humanitarian situation”.
Qatar condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous massacre committed by the Israeli occupation”, calling for “urgent international action” to halt the fighting in Gaza.
In the United States, President Joe Biden said the incident would complicate delicate cease-fire negotiations in the almost 5-month-old conflict, with the White House calling the deaths “tremendously alarming”.
The European Union’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday said she was “deeply disturbed by images from Gaza”.
France said “the fire by Israeli soldiers against civilians trying to access food is unjustifiable”.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced what he called a “genocide” of the Palestinian people and suspended purchases of weapons from Israel.