I am posting these as news – there are lots of media in this country will stay away from this as if this is not worthy of news. In the next post I will show world reaction to it
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops fired on a crowd of
Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday,
witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed in the chaos, bringing the
death toll since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to
more than 30,000, according to health officials.
Israel said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic stampede
for the food aid and that its troops only fired when they felt endangered by
the crowd.
The violence was quickly condemned by Arab countries, and U.S.
President Joe Biden expressed concern it would add to the difficulty of
negotiating a cease-fire in the nearly five-month conflict.
While many Palestinians fled the invasion in the north of the
enclave, a few hundred thousand are believed to remain in the largely
devastated and isolated region. Several deliveries of aid reached the area this
week, officials said.
The deadly chaos in Gaza City will likely fuel criticism of Israel
when it comes to allowing aid in.
Aid groups say it has become nearly impossible to deliver supplies
in most of Gaza because of the difficulty of coordinating with the Israeli
military, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order, with crowds of
desperate people overwhelming aid convoys. The U.N. says a quarter of Gaza’s
2.3 million Palestinians face starvation;
around 80% have fled their homes.
Military officials said the pre-dawn convoy of 30 trucks driving
to northern Gaza were met by huge crowds of people trying to grab the aid they
were carrying. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the stampede, and some
were run over by the trucks as the drivers tried to get away, said Rear Adm.
Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson.
Israeli troops guarding the area fired warning shots toward the
crowd because they felt endangered, he said.
“We didn’t open fire on those seeking aid. Contrary to the
accusations, we didn’t open fire on a humanitarian aid convoy, not from the air
and not from land. We secured it so it could reach northern Gaza,” he said.
Kamel Abu Nahel, who was being treated for a gunshot wound at
Shifa Hospital, said he and others went to the distribution point in the middle
of the night because they heard there would be a delivery of food. “We’ve been
eating animal feed for two months,” he said.
He said Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd
as people pulled boxes of flour and canned goods off the trucks, causing the
Palestinians to scatter, with some hiding under cars. After the shooting
stopped, people went back to the trucks, and the soldiers opened fire again. He
was shot in the leg and fell over, and then a truck ran over his leg as it sped
off, he said.
At least 112 people were killed, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman
Ashraf al-Qidra said. The ministry described it as a “massacre” and said more
than 700 others were injured.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan accused Israel of targeting
civilians in the incident. In separate statements, they called for increased
safe passages for humanitarian aid. They also urged the international community
to take decisive action to pressure Israel to abide by international law and to
reach an agreement for an immediate cease-fire.
Biden spoke with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar about the deaths,
according to U.S. officials, and the U.N. Security Council scheduled emergency
closed consultations on them for later Thursday.
“We are urgently seeking additional information on exactly what
took place,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
The increasing alarm over hunger across Gaza has fueled
international calls for a cease-fire, and the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are working
to secure a deal between Israel
and Hamas for a pause in fighting and the release of
some of the hostages Hamas took during its Oct. 7 attack.
