At least 112 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 injured when Israeli forces opened fire on hundreds of people waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City.
Here's what we know:
What happened and when?
The incident occurred around 4:30 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. Japan time) on Thursday, when people gathered on Harun al-Rashid Street in the Gaza Strip, where an aid truck carrying flour was believed to be on its way. Occurred.
A convoy of aid trucks passed through a checkpoint and headed north as people began to gather in large groups. According to the Israeli military, a convoy of 31 trucks entered Gaza, with nearly 20 entering the north on Monday and Tuesday.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said reports from Rafah said people were being shot at with all kinds of military equipment as they gathered in large groups to wait for much-needed aid. People unloaded boxes of flour and canned goods from trucks, the Associated Press reported.
After the initial shooting stopped, people returned to their trucks, but the soldiers opened fire again.
“After the shots were fired, Israeli tanks moved forward and hit many casualties,” Al Jazeera reporter Ismail Al Ghoul said in a report from the scene.
Where was the filming done?
The Palestinian Authority said the incident occurred on Al Rashid Street at the Nabulsi roundabout on the southwest side of Gaza City.
This is northern Gaza, where food deliveries are in short supply. This week, the first shipment in over a month arrived.
The event comes as World Food Program (WFP) Deputy Director-General Karl Skow told the UN Security Council that more than 500,000 people, or one in four people, are at risk of starvation, and that six It happened the next day when one of the children said: A 2 year old is considered acutely malnourished.
How do Palestinian witnesses explain what happened?
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip say Israeli forces have opened fire and massacred crowds trying to collect desperately needed food aid.
According to Al Jazeera's Mahmoud, the more he talked to people, “the more it became clear that people felt this was a trap, an ambush.”
“We came here to get help. We have been waiting since noon yesterday. Around 4:30 in the morning, trucks started trickling in. The Israelis started coming in, as if it was a trap. They fired indiscriminately at us. As we approached the aid truck, Israeli tanks and fighter jets started firing at us,” a witness at the scene told Al Jazeera.
Witnesses said the crowds were the result of Israeli fire and that trucks also overturned the injured, adding to the death toll. Al Jazeera confirmed that donkey carts were used to transport people to hospitals as ambulances were unable to reach the area.
“We were trying to take flour… then an Israeli sniper shot at us,” another official who was in the area told Al Jazeera. “They shot me in the leg. I can't even stand up,” he added.
What did Israel say?
The Israeli military said the truck was being controlled by a private contractor as part of an aid operation monitored over the past four nights.
But the Israeli version of events changed within a day.
Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said the Israeli military “initially tried to blame the crowd” and said aid trucks were crushed and trampled as they arrived. He said dozens of people were injured.
“Then, after some push, the Israelis went on to say that their troops felt threatened, that hundreds of troops were approaching their troops in a way that threatened them, and by opening fire. He said he fought back,” Smith added. But they didn't explain how those people posed a threat.
Witnesses claimed that the stampede occurred after Israeli forces began firing on people seeking food.
What is the current state of aid in Gaza?
Aid agencies claim that Israel has delayed deliveries since the war began. Israel denies this claim.
“The inability to bring critical food supplies into Gaza in sufficient quantities and the near-impossible working conditions faced by staff on the ground further increase the risk of starvation,” Skow said.
He described dangerous conditions for WFP trucks trying to deliver food to the north earlier this month. “There were delays at checkpoints. They faced gunfire and other violence. Food was looted along the way. And at their destination, they were overwhelmed by desperately hungry people,” he said. added.
A month ago, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said Israel should do everything possible to stop acts of genocide in its territory.
However, according to human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Israel “failed to take even minimal steps to comply.”
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of trucks has decreased by 40% since the ICJ ruling.
What was your reaction?
The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, calling it “an ugly massacre perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the incident.
“I condemn Thursday's events in Gaza, where more than 100 people were reportedly killed or injured while seeking life-saving aid,” he said. “The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent aid, including those in the north, where the United Nations has been unable to reach aid for more than a week.”
I condemn the events that occurred in Gaza on Thursday. More than 100 people were reportedly killed or injured in the incident as they sought life-saving help.
Desperate civilians in Gaza are in need of emergency aid. @united nations No aid has been delivered for over a week.
— Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 1, 2024
The U.S. government said it wanted answers from Israel, but declined to directly condemn the killings.
“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed over the course of this conflict, not just today but over the past nearly five months,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news conference.
“We have been in contact with the Israeli government since early this morning and understand that an investigation is ongoing. We will closely monitor that investigation and demand answers,” Miller added.
Jordan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the attack.
“We condemn the Israeli occupation's brutal targeting of a gathering of Palestinians waiting for aid at the Nabulsi roundabout near Al Rashid Street in the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia called on the international community to “take a firm stance by requiring Israel to respect international humanitarian law.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said his government was suspending arms purchases from Israel.
Pidiendo Komida, Netanyahu's 100 Palestinians killed. Genocide and rescue are considered the most important tasks in human daily life.
It is impossible to stop Netanyahu. Colombia has suspended arms deliveries to Israel. https://t.co/o5aLu7DCA6
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) February 29, 2024
“More than 100 Palestinians were killed by Prime Minister Netanyahu in search of food,” Petro said. “This is called genocide and is reminiscent of the Holocaust, even if world powers don't want to admit it. The world must stop Prime Minister Netanyahu. Colombia will stop all arms purchases from Israel. ” he said in X.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron expressed his “strongest condemnation.”
I am deeply outraged by the footage from Gaza showing civilians being targeted by Israeli soldiers.
I express my strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice and respect for international law.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 1, 2024
What does this mean for war?
Thursday's killing is one of the deadliest single incidents in Israel's war in Gaza.
It also comes amid ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at an agreement that would halt fighting and allow humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
After the shooting, Hamas issued a statement warning that it may withdraw from the negotiations.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden said he was optimistic and hoped a ceasefire could be reached by “next Monday.”
But both Israel and Hamas have since downplayed the prospect of a quick breakthrough in talks, and Biden later acknowledged that a ceasefire could take time.
The White House said Biden had recently been in touch with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt to continue negotiations.
President Biden spoke today with Qatar's Amir al-Thani and Egypt's President Al-Sisi about the war in Gaza, efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, and the urgency of expanding the flow of humanitarian aid. We talked. pic.twitter.com/aVQSqBD1gq
— White House (@WhiteHouse) March 1, 2024
