As of: March 7, 2024, 10:20 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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The tragedy surrounding an aid convoy in Gaza raises questions.
Israel speaks of mass panic.
Reports from survivors paint a different picture.
Gaza - Even a week after the horrifying scenes during an aid delivery in the Gaza Strip, which cost the lives of well over 100 Palestinians, the events of early February 29th have still only been partially reconstructed.
There are very different statements about what happened and who is responsible for the bloodbath in the Israel-Gaza war.
Eyewitness accounts differ significantly from those of the Israeli military.
Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, again claimed to US broadcaster
Sky News
on Thursday (March 7) that the IDF "did not shoot at starving people."
Israel is not to blame for the al-Rashid Street disaster.
There was an incident “not so far away” in which Israeli soldiers fired on “some” civilians who posed a danger.
However, a large proportion of the deaths were attributed to a “tragic mass panic” - essentially just repeating previous explanations.
The result of a preliminary investigation announced on Sunday by Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari was similar.
“Their desperation was enormous.
That’s what hunger does” – clear evidence of Israeli gunfire
But no one else seems to know this as clearly as the IDF.
The UN employee Georgios Petropoulos was on site afterwards - including at the Al-Shifa Hospital, where the victims of the disaster were cared for.
In the
mirror
he talks about his impressions and conversations with eyewitnesses and those affected.
First, he highlights the heroism of the doctors and helpers who cared for around 200 people in the Al-Shifa Hospital alone.
According to Petropoulos, the doctors were not able to conclusively determine what exactly happened.
There is no doubt that there were numerous gunshot wounds, according to one of the doctors “many dozens”.
However, there were also many fractures, which are typical in car accidents.
A Palestinian mourns the victims at Al-Shifa Hospital.
© IMAGO/Mohammed Ali
“The hospital assumes it was Israeli gunfire because of the sheer volume of gunshot wounds.
But there were also splinter injuries, possibly from a large-caliber machine gun,” said Petropulos.
But there is no evidence of this.
The survivors don't know exactly what happened either.
People panicked and fell over each other;
It was dark and “very chaotic”.
Despite the gunfire, some people went to the trucks several times in the hope of getting some of the flour.
“Their desperation was enormous.
That's what hunger does: people only do things like that when they're fighting for survival," he is certain.
Tens of thousands waited for the aid convoy - “There was a feeling of hope and even joy”
Already on the evening of February 28, tens of thousands of Palestinians remaining in the northern Gaza Strip had gathered along Al-Rashid Street in the west of Gaza City, as the Israeli
+972 Magazine
writes.
Among them were 22-year-old Abdel Jalil Al-Fayoumi, his uncle Abbas and his cousin Moatasem.
Israeli troops had already searched the surrounding high-rise buildings in the evening and partially shot them with tanks, Al-Fayoumi told the magazine.
His uncle wanted to leave, but the people around assured them that the raids were just an attempt at intimidation.
“There was a feeling of hope and even joy that we would get flour to bring back to our families,” the young man continued.
The aid convoy finally arrived before sunrise, at 4:45 a.m. local time - and was immediately surrounded by a crowd.
“I couldn't see the truck, I only saw its lights and the people rushing towards it,” Al-Fayoumi continued.
“Suddenly, heavy gunfire erupted from the Israeli tanks.
I was separated from my uncle and my cousin.
I didn't know what was happening;
I just wanted to survive and escape.
Everyone screamed and fled.
There were corpses and wounded people on the ground crying out for help.”
Large number of gunshot wounds - did the IDF “fire into the densest part of the crowd”?
He looked around desperately until 9 a.m. but couldn't find his relative.
He finally went with his aunt to Al-Shifa Hospital, where they found his uncle Abbas in front of a corpse in a blood-stained white blanket.
He said he and his son were trying to take cover behind the rubble of previous bombings when Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd.
Moatasem raised his head for a second and was hit by an Israeli bullet.
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Other eyewitness reports paint a similar picture, as do reports from Gaza hospitals.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital told the
New York Times
that the bodies of 12 people killed by gunfire and another 100 with gunshot wounds were brought there.
The interim manager of Al-Awda Hospital, Dr.
Mohamed Salha, told the
BBC
that 176 injured people were admitted on the morning of February 29, 142 of whom had gunshot wounds.
A UN official who visited Al-Shifa after the incident told the
BBC
that the IDF had reportedly "fired into the densest part of the crowd".
(tpn)