As of: February 29, 2024, 10:23 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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Mass panic breaks out in Gaza.
The Israeli army opens fire on civilians.
This puts a possible ceasefire at risk.
GAZA - In a chaotic incident in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops appear to have opened fire on hungry Palestinian civilians as they gathered around a food delivery truck.
The Israeli military has since confirmed the incident.
According to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 104 people were killed and 760 injured.
According to the ministry, the number of people killed by the war in the Gaza Strip is now more than 30,000.
These numbers cannot be independently verified.
The body of a dead civilian is transported from Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
© IMAGO/Malik Atallah
According to the Israeli army, 30 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning via the Kerem Shalom border crossing and continued north.
When they reached the intersection in Gaza City, the moving trucks were stormed.
Dozens of people were killed.
The trucks then drove on;
When they reached the Rimal district, armed people rushed towards the trucks to loot them.
At the same time, some people in the crowd approached an IDF unit.
The soldiers then fired warning shots and finally shot at the legs of those who continued to approach them.
A crowd panics in Gaza after the Israeli army opened fire
Khadeer Al Za'anoun, a local journalist from Gaza, was at the scene and witnessed the incident.
He confirmed to the US news portal
CNN
that there was a large crowd of people waiting for food to be distributed.
The chaos and confusion that led to the trampling only began when the Israeli soldiers opened fire.
“Most” of the casualties were caused by aid trucks that rammed people trying to escape Israeli fire.
Other eyewitnesses describe the incidents similarly.
Mahmud Ahmed, a local resident, told the
dpa
news agency that the residents had expected trucks with relief supplies - especially flour and other food - from the southern coastal area early in the morning;
it was still dark.
Suddenly shots were fired and, according to the 27-year-old, grenades were also fired.
Mahmud initially fled, but returned to the area at daybreak.
When he returned, he saw numerous bodies on the ground.
Residents brought the injured to a hospital, some on donkey carts.
This information could not be independently verified.
Health sector in the Gaza Strip on the brink of collapse - too few food aid deliveries
Two doctors confirmed to the AFP news agency that there was a high rush to the hospitals and many deaths.
Dr.
Mohammad Salha, deputy director of Al-Awda Hospital, said more were expected.
“There are still many wounded people in the reception and in the emergency room,” Salha continued.
He also explained that Al-Awda was largely out of operation because there was no electricity.
The operating room will only be operated with battery power on an hourly basis.
Almost five months of war between Israel and Hamas are putting the health sector in the Gaza Strip to the test.
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The population's food supply, which was already inadequate before the war, is also noticeably deteriorating.
Following the October 7 Hamas-led terrorist attacks, Israel ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put it at the time.
The aim was to weaken Hamas fighters and ensure that no military supplies could enter the enclave.
Israeli officials maintain that they are still allowing food and other humanitarian supplies into the enclave, but that aid agencies have not distributed them efficiently.
Starvation threatens thousands of civilians - Is the Israeli army systematically hindering aid deliveries?
However, many human rights experts dispute that inefficient aid distribution is the main cause of food shortages.
According to these experts, Israel took too long to inspect the shipments and approve them for import.
According to the World Food Program, only 20 to 30 percent of the food needed reached Gaza.
The UN complains that the amount of aid delivered in February was halved compared to the previous month - thousands of civilians are threatened with starvation.
According to UNICEF, residents of the Gaza Strip only have 1.5 to 2 liters of water available per day - according to humanitarian standards, the minimum amount of water is 15 liters.
"The IDF's claim that there was a mass panic only underscores the need for independent international organizations to lead humanitarian efforts in Gaza," Center for American Progress director Patrick Gaspard told
CNN
.
US officials have worked for months to provide life-saving aid to the desperate civilian population.
This was repeatedly hindered by the Israeli government.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council emphasized that it was “aware of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.”
The flow of humanitarian aid must be expanded, including through a possible temporary ceasefire.
Mutual blame - A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip could be at risk
However, the events on Thursday morning have made it much more difficult to achieve such a ceasefire.
Hamas has threatened to break off negotiations for the release of the Israeli hostages and a ceasefire agreement.
This is what the Reuters
news agency reports
.
“The negotiations conducted by the leadership of the movement are not an open process at the cost of the blood of our people,” said the statement, referring to Thursday's deaths and placing responsibility on Israel for a breakdown in the talks.
US President Joe Biden also pointed out that this had made the talks more difficult.
He remains hopeful for an agreement, but it is unlikely that an agreement will be reached by Monday (March 4) - the day Biden expects a ceasefire to begin.
(tpn)