MORE THAN 100 PALESTINIANS KILLED WAITING FOR FOOD AID
▶ Attack takes place on day death toll in enclave passes 30,000, amid reports of children starving
More than 100 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds waiting for a food aid delivery in northern Gaza, the enclave’s Health Ministry has said.
This occurred on the day when the number of Palestinians killed in almost five months of war in Gaza passed 30,000, local health authorities said. Health
Ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf Al Qudra said at least 112 people were killed and 760 injured after Israeli troops opened fire on crowds at Al Nabulsi roundabout on the main coastal road in Gaza city on Thursday.
Many of the injured were taken for treatment to Al Shifa Hospital, which is already overflowing with patients and barely functioning.
The Palestinian Authority’s presidency condemned the killings as a “heinous massacre,” while Israel said “the incident is under review”.
The Israeli military initially said the deaths were caused by a crush of civilians trying to reach the convoy of aid lorries.
Military spokesman Lt Col Avichay Adraee posted aerial footage on social media, which he said showed crowds of Palestinians rushing to seize supplies from the convoy.
The crowds “surrounded the trucks and as a result, dozens were killed and injured from pushing, trampling and being run over by the trucks”, he said.
An Israeli military official later said that troops had opened fire at people, after feeling “under threat”.
US President Joe Biden said that Washington is examining the incident.
On Tuesday, the UN warned that a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is one step away from famine. “Food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition,” it said.
At least 30,035 people have been killed and 70,457 injured in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7, the enclave’s Health Ministry said.
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in northern Gaza, with Israeli troops accused of opening fire on crowds awaiting the delivery of humanitarian aid.
At least 760 people were injured in the incident on Thursday, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf Al Qudra.
This latest incident comes as the death toll in Gaza since the war began in October last year passed 30,000 people, the Health Ministry said.
Mohammed Adnan, 18, said he had waited all night for aid, which arrived at about 5am.
“There were a lot of people there, and they started to push each other,” he said. “Suddenly Israeli soldiers start to shoot towards people, and a number were killed immediately.
“We want the aid to enter Gaza in an organised way. Let everyone take, but not like that. People are facing death to bring food to their children.”
Mousa Al Aila, 12, also said he saw Israeli troops open fire while he was waiting to receive food from the convoy.
“I went to take some of the aid. We want to eat, we don’t have flour at home,” Mousa told The National.
“I saw a number of people on the ground dead.”
Montaser Aziz, 30, said his brother was injured in the leg while they waited to get aid.
“Anyone who tried to grab a sack of flour was immediately shot. If they want to kill us, why send the aid? It’s crazy what’s happening,” Mr Aziz said.
Medics arriving at the scene found “dozens or hundreds” lying on the ground, said Fares Afana, the head of the ambulance service at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya refugee camp.
He said there were not enough ambulances to collect the dead and wounded, meaning some were taken to hospitals in carts.
The Palestinian Authority presidency condemned what it called a “heinous massacre” by the Israeli military, and called for Israel to be brought to justice in the international courts.
The authority’s Foreign Ministry also strongly criticised Israel over the incident, and called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the deaths were the result of a crush as thousands of people rushed to reach an aid convoy. Its spokesman Lt Col Avichay Adraee posted footage on social media that appeared to show crowds of people surrounding lorries.
The incident is under review, the military said.
An Israeli official was quoted by Reuters as saying that troops opened fire at “several people” after feeling “under threat”.
Amid a diplomatic push for a ceasefire to be reached in Gaza before the beginning of Ramadan, the bleak humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in the besieged enclave.
Aid groups say it has become nearly impossible to deliver humanitarian assistance in most of Gaza because of the difficulty of co-ordinating with the Israeli military, continuing hostilities and the breakdown of public order, with crowds of desperate people overwhelming convoys.
Six children were reported to have died in northern Gazan hospitals “due to malnutrition, dehydration and widespread famine”, after weeks of warnings from international aid agencies of a looming famine in the enclave.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital – where four of the children died – said: “The lack of available infant formula exacerbates the suffering, especially for newborns, due to the shortage of milk from mothers who are completely deprived of nutrition.”
The hospital has been receiving many cases of children with “very clear signs of dehydration and malnutrition, and some of them stay for hours before succumbing and becoming martyrs”, Dr Abu Safia said.
Hamas said on Wednesday that the children’s deaths constitute an “international failure to protect humanity”.
On Tuesday, the UN warned that a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is one step away from famine.
“Food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition,” the world body said.
Humanitarian groups have documented “a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip”, the Global Nutrition Cluster said in a recent report.
The situation is particularly extreme in Gaza’s northern areas, it added.
Samantha Power, the head of the US Agency for International Development, urged Israel to open more border crossings so that “vitally needed humanitarian assistance can be dramatically surged”.
“This is a matter of life and death,” she said.
Medics found ‘dozens or hundreds’ on the ground, and a lack of ambulances meant some had to be taken to hospital in carts