A food aid distribution in Gaza turned tragic again on Saturday, with Hamas claiming that 19 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire, an accusation denied by the army.
The Hamas Health Ministry initially announced that nine people had been killed by “tank and shell fire from the Israeli occupation army” during a planned aid distribution at the roundabout. Kuwait on the outskirts of Gaza City, before the press service of the Palestinian Islamist movement reported a new toll of 19 dead and 23 injured.
The convoy “looted by hundreds of Gazans”, according to the IDF
The Israeli army denied shooting at Palestinians awaiting this distribution.
“Reports claiming that Israeli forces attacked dozens of Gazans near an aid convoy are incorrect,” the army said in a statement.
According to "initial elements", "there was no air strike against the convoy, nor shooting by (Israeli) forces on people near the aid convoy", she said.
The army added that soldiers accompanied the same aid convoy which it said was intercepted and then “looted by hundreds of Gazans”.
A spokesman for civil defense in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, reported "shooting against civilians", adding that the wounded had been transported to al-Ahli Arab hospital, also called Baptist hospital.
He described “very serious injuries, some from shrapnel”.
Similar accusations in mid-March
On March 14, the Hamas Ministry of Health reported 20 deaths and more than a hundred injured by “Israeli fire” in similar circumstances, at the same roundabout.
The next day, the Israeli army spoke of shooting by “armed Palestinians”, denying these accusations.
On February 29, an aid distribution turned into a tragedy in western Gaza City, leaving 120 dead according to Hamas, which accused the army of opening fire on the crowd.
The army said its soldiers had "fired on a number of suspects who approached (them) and presented a threat."
She assured that a stampede left “dozens of dead and injured”.
According to the UN, the vast majority of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are threatened by famine.
The situation is particularly serious for the 300,000 people remaining in the north of the territory, where the delivery of aid is even more difficult.