Israel helped set up convoy that ended with 100 dead
The Gaza aid convoy that ended in bloodshed this past week was organized by Israel as part of a newly hatched partnership with local Palestinian businessmen, according to Israeli officials, Palestinian businessmen and Western diplomats.
Israel has been involved in at least four such aid convoys to the northern Gaza Strip over the past week. It undertook the effort, Israeli officials told two Western diplomats, to fill a void in assistance to northern Gaza, where famine looms as international aid groups have suspended most operations, citing Israeli refusals to greenlight aid trucks and rising lawlessness. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.
Israeli officials reached out to multiple businessmen in Gaza and asked them to help organize private aid convoys, two of the businessmen said, while Israel would provide security.
The United Nations has warned more than 570,000 Gaza residents are facing “catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation” after nearly five months of war and an almost complete Israeli blockade of the territory after the Oct. 7 attacks led by Hamas. Some residents have resorted to raiding the pantries of neighbors who fled their homes, while others have been grinding up animal feed for flour. U.N. aid convoys carrying essential goods to northern Gaza have been looted — either by civilians fearing starvation or organized gangs.
“My family, friends and neighbors are dying from hunger,” said Jawdat Khoudary, a Palestinian businessman who helped organize some of the trucks involved in the Israeli relief initiative.
The convoy that arrived in Gaza City early Thursday ended with more than 100 Palestinians dead after many thousands of people massed around trucks carrying food and supplies, Gaza health officials said.
Israeli and Palestinian officials and witnesses offered sharply divergent accounts of the chaos. Witnesses described extensive shooting by Israeli forces, and doctors at Gaza hospitals said most casualties were from gunfire. But the Israeli military said most of the victims were trampled in a crush of people trying to seize the cargo.
The deaths sparked global outrage and increased pressure on Israel to reach a cease-fire agreement with Hamas that would let more aid into Gaza.
Israel has agreed to a plan that would include a six-week cease-fire, the release of dozens of the most “vulnerable” Israeli hostages in Gaza and the entry of more aid convoys into the territory, a U.S. official said.
The United States and other countries, including Egypt and Qatar, are trying to persuade Hamas to accept the deal, the U.S. official said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing diplomacy.
Since the war began, Israel has been loath to take responsibility for caring for Gaza’s civilians. But its bombing campaign and ground invasion have decimated Hamas’ control over northern Gaza, leaving a gaping security vacuum amid a humanitarian catastrophe that worsens daily.