While the toll of Palestinians killed this morning by Israeli forces while waiting for food aid near al-Rashid Street, south of Gaza City has risen to 104 – according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, which also speaks of 760 injured – a spokesperson of the White House National Security Council said the United States considers the shooting in Gaza a “serious incident.” “We mourn the loss of innocent human lives and recognize the difficult humanitarian situation in Gaza, where innocent Palestinians are only trying to feed their families,” the spokesperson said.
Later, President Joe Biden said his government was examining various “contradictory” versions of the shooting. To those who asked him if yes
expected a ceasefire for Monday, Biden replied: “Hope is the last thing to die” but it is “probable that there won’t be one” for Monday. To those who asked him about the shooting in Gaza on the crowd queuing for aid, the president said he was aware that the incident could have effects on the negotiations for the release of the hostages and specified that the United States is examining the “contradictory versions” about what happened.
Indeed, Hamas has warned that shooting at Palestinians queuing for aid in Gaza could lead to the failure of talks for a truce and the release of hostages. “The negotiations conducted by the movement’s leadership are not an open process at the expense of the blood of our people,” reads a statement from the Islamist group, which states that Israel would be responsible for any failure of the talks.
For its part, the office of Abu Mazen, president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), defined the episode as “a despicable massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation army, for which the occupation government bears full responsibility”. This was echoed by the Egyptian government, which in a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly condemns Israel’s inhuman attack against defenseless Palestinian civilians who were waiting for the arrival of trucks of humanitarian aid north of the Gaza Strip, and which led to a large number of casualties and injuries”
The attack, the note continues, represents “a clear violation of the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law, as well as a total contempt for the value of the human person”.
And meanwhile the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, wrote on Israel to protect the population in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain the facts and responsibilities.”
Israel, ‘The crowd looted the aid, it was a threat
According to the Israeli military spokesman, the soldiers opened fire after “during the entry of aid trucks into northern Gaza, residents surrounded the trucks”, whose transit the Israelis were ensuring, and “looted the supplies”. .
“In the accident – he underlined – dozens of people were trampled in the crowd”. Military sources report that the soldiers “fired at those who had surrounded the trucks” and that the crowd “crowded in such a way as to pose a threat to the troops”.
According to Israel, soldiers are not responsible for most of the casualties recorded today in Gaza. Military spokesman Peter Lerner said this, explaining that two separate incidents occurred, hundreds of meters apart. “At 4am a convoy of 30 aid trucks passed the army checkpoint in Wadi Gaza and was later surrounded by thousands of people. The crowd spiraled out of control and dozens of people were injured or killed in the crowd, others were hit by trucks.” The soldiers opened fire only in the second episode, “feeling threatened by dozens of civilians”
Additionally, the Israeli military released an aerial surveillance video of the incident. According to the Israeli military “The video shows how many people surrounded the trucks and, as a result, dozens were killed and injured from being pushed, trampled and run over by the trucks.” The army said it would continue assistance in the transportation of humanitarian aid.
Lerner stated that these accidents occurred despite the efforts undertaken by Israel, including in recent days ”with hundreds of trucks”,
to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the northern Gaza Strip.
The convoy in question had passed through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, had gone north along the coastal road of Gaza and ”the last of the trucks had passed” the army checkpoint (between the southern and northern sectors of Gaza) when, several hundred meters away, a crowd arose in which numerous people lost their lives. The officer added that eight trucks from that convoy also managed to proceed north, ”but found themselves exposed to fire from people from Gaza, were looted and damaged”
The second accident, according to Lerner, was ”much more limited”. After the convoy had passed, dozens of people gathered around the army post. ”Being a war zone, the military fired warning shots in the air and then in the direction of those who refused to leave”. ”The army is continuing to investigate these incidents,” the officer concluded.
Video Gaza, Israel shows a video of the crowd assaulting aid trucks
Ben Gvir, ‘stop the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza’
The delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians facilitated by the Israeli army puts soldiers in danger. This was said by Israeli National Security Minister and radical right leader Itamar Ben Gvir, referring to the incident north of Gaza
“Today – he added – it has been proven that the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza is not only madness while our hostages are held in the Strip, but also harms the army soldiers”. The incident – according to Ben Gvir – “is another clear reason why we must stop the transfer of
this aid.”
Sinwar, ‘The Israelis are where we want them’
The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yaya Sinwar, appears again with a message delivered earlier this month by a courier to a meeting of the Hamas leadership in exile in Doha, reassuring that the Israeli attacks were not eliminating all the fighters.
“Don’t worry, we have the Israelis right where we want them,” says Sinwar – as reported by the Wall Street Journal – adding that the Hamas leader in Gaza explained that the Al-Qassam Brigades were doing well. According to WSJ sources, Sinwar added that a high number of civilian casualties increases global pressure on Israel to stop the war.
Humanitarian aid packages launched towards Gaza have fallen into Israel
Packages of humanitarian aid, launched today from a Jordanian plane towards the north of the Gaza Strip, were carried by the wind and fell into
Israeli territory. The military radio reported it, later reassuring the population that they ”don’t represent any danger”.
The public broadcaster Kan meanwhile noted that today is the fourth consecutive day that planes from countries friendly to Israel have conducted aid drops towards the Gaza Strip. So far, the broadcaster added, those launches had affected the south of the Strip, in the area between Khan Yunis and Rafah. Today
they were launched in the northern sector, in Jabalya and at the Indonesia hospital..
The White House is also considering dropping aid into Gaza by plane as land deliveries become increasingly difficult. “The situation is really serious. We need extreme measures such as airdrops,” an official source said, quoted by American media. However,
Officials admit, air aid is limited because a military jet can only drop as much supplies as one or two trucks can carry. So they can be used in an emergency but, the sources underline, the only way to send assistance to Gaza is by land.
Video Egypt drops packages with humanitarian aid on the Gaza Strip
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