Outrage at Israeli ‘massacre’
GAZA: TROOPS SHOOT DEAD OVER 100 CIVILIANS SCRAMBLING FOR FOOD
Global condemnation flowed yesterday after Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident which the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said killed more than 100 people.
The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries.
An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat”.
Gaza’s health ministry called it a “massacre” and said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on social media platform X, expressed his “strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice, and respect for international law”.
Iran denounced “the barbaric attack by the Zionist regime”, China said it was “shocked”, and the head of the Arab League said the “brutal” act showed “total contempt for human life”.
US President Joe Biden said Washington was checking “two competing versions” of the incident which occurred early on Thursday in northern Gaza, where famine threatens after nearly five months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.
A US state department spokesperson said aerial footage of the incident made clear “just how desperate the situation on the ground is”.
Washington was pushing Israel to allow in more aid, he said.
The deaths came after the World Food Programme’s deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council on Tuesday: “If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza.”
While the situation is particularly acute in Gaza’s north, Gazans are struggling for food, water and medical care throughout the territory including in far-south Rafah, where around 1.4 million people have sought refuge.
The war began on 7 October with a Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1 160 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 30 000 people, according to the health ministry, which reported early Friday another 83 people killed in strikes overnight.
Israel’s military says 242 soldiers have died in Gaza since ground operations began.
Biden said the Gaza City aid incident would complicate efforts to broker a truce.
The White House said he spoke with Qatari and Egyptian leadly ers – fellow mediators – in separate phone calls to discuss both the ceasefire and the “tragic and alarming” incident.
The UN Security Council held a closed-door emergency meeting on the incident, which US deputy ambassador to the UN Robert Wood condemned before entering the chamber.
“This outrageous massacre is a testimony that as long as the Security Council is paralysed” and vetoes cast, “then it is costing the Palestinian people their lives,” Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said ahead of the meeting. –