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Deaths and injuries during the distribution of aid supplies in Gaza – that seems certain. However, there is uncertainty about the exact circumstances. How do Hamas and Israel describe the events? An overview.
What happened?
What is certain is that several trucks brought relief supplies for the suffering population to the city of Gaza in the north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Numerous people streamed towards the trucks. In this environment a tragedy occurred with deaths and injuries.
The Ministry of Health, which is run by the terrorist organization Hamas, speaks of more than 100 dead and several hundred injured. These numbers cannot be independently verified.
What do Hamas and the Palestinian side say about the cause?
Hamas calls the incident a “massacre.” She accuses the Israeli army of deliberately shooting at the people waiting. She also relies on eyewitness reports.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riad Mansur said: “According to the information we have, dozens of people have bullets in their heads. It’s not like shooting into the sky to restrain people when there was confusion and chaos. It was deliberately targeted and killed.”
What does Israel say about the allegations?
According to the Israeli army, there was a “chaotic crowd” when the aid convoy arrived. “Some began violently pushing and trampling others to death and looted humanitarian supplies,” said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Another spokesman, Peter Lerner, told CNN that, according to initial findings, a group of people approached Israeli soldiers a short time later. The military then fired warning shots into the air.
However, the group continued to approach the soldiers and posed a threat, whereupon the soldiers opened fire. According to Israeli media reports, they were said to have targeted the legs. A handful of people were injured in the incident, Lerner said.
According to the military, some truck drivers also started moving their vehicles in the crowd, which also led to deaths and injuries.
How is the international community reacting?
The deadly incident sparked international outrage. UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the events: “We don’t know exactly what happened,” he said through his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. “But whether these people were killed by Israeli gunfire, whether they were crushed by the crowd or knocked over by trucks, these are acts of violence that are in some way linked to this conflict.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was horrified: “I am horrified by the news of another bloodbath among the civilian population in Gaza, who are desperately waiting for humanitarian aid,” he wrote on X. These deaths are “completely unacceptable.” Withholding food aid from people is a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Borrell did not explicitly assign blame in the article.
French President Emmanuel Macron was clearer, condemning Israeli soldiers directly: “I am deeply outraged by the images from the Gaza Strip, where civilians were attacked by Israeli soldiers. I condemn these shootings in the strongest possible terms and demand truth, justice and compliance with international law ” he wrote on X.
Clear blame also came from several Arab countries, which accused Israel of specifically targeting civilians. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan called for more safe passage for humanitarian aid and greater pressure from the international community to force Israel to comply with international law.
There were also many calls for an independent investigation into the events and an immediate ceasefire. The UN Security Council discussed the incident in a special closed session on Thursday evening.
Antje Passenheim, ARD New York, tagesschau, March 1st, 2024 6:17 a.m