At least 104 Palestinians have been killed and another 750 wounded at an aid distribution point west of Gaza City, in what the local health ministry spokesperson Ashaf al-Qidra described as an unprovoked Israeli attack on civilians waiting for a delivery on Thursday.
Video from the scene posted on social media showed people fleeing and taking cover while victims were taken to hospitals by any means available – including donkey carts, as roads to the site had been destroyed. However, it was impossible to confirm from the video what had triggered the deadly chaos.
The Israeli Defense Forces officially acknowledged dozens of injuries and casualties among the crowd, but blamed the victims, claiming they were “pushing and trampling” at the sight of the aid trucks. IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari claimed only a few “warning shots” were fired to disperse the crowd of “looters.”
An Israeli military source not authorized to speak with the press admitted his colleagues fired at the crowd – but blamed the victims for that as well.
“The crowd approached the forces in a manner which posed a threat to the troops,” the source told AFP.
However, witnesses’ stories appeared incompatible with the suggestion the soldiers who fired on the crowd had done so out of fear. IDF troops allegedly opened fire twice – waiting until the first aid-seekers had returned to the truck from hiding to shoot them again, according to Kamel Abu Nahel, who told reporters from his bed in Al Shifa Hospital that he was shot in the leg and then run over as the trucks sped away from the scene.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army this morning against the people who waited for the aid trucks,” according to his office. Hamas also condemned the incident, which it called “unprecedented in the history of war crimes,” as part of Israel’s “war of starvation” against the people of Gaza.
The attack could jeopardize ceasefire talks still underway between the Palestinian militants and the Israeli government to return Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza, Hamas warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared that their return was his utmost priority.
Since the deadly Hamas raid on October 7 in which over 1,200 people were killed, Israel has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the enclave’s health ministry. While Israel was told by the International Court of Justice to increase and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid so as to avoid committing genocide against the Palestinian people, Israel has been accused by the UN and other aid groups of violating that order.