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Israeli army says most Gaza aid convoy deaths happened in stampede
Israel’s military has denied it was responsible for the killing of 117 aid-seeking Palestinians in Gaza City, which has triggered global condemnation and calls for an independent inquiry. The military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said a preliminary review determined that Israel’s forces did not strike the convoy and that most Palestinians died in a stampede.
The purported finding is against the accounts of the Palestinian officials, who said more than 100 Palestinians were killed and some 700 others wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City. The military “concluded an initial review of the unfortunate incident where Gazan civilians were trampled to death and injured as they charged to the aid convoy”, Hagari said.
The review, he said, which gathered information from commanders and forces in the field, determined that no strike was carried out towards the aid convoy. “Following the warning shots fired to disperse the stampede and after our forces had started retreating, several looters approached our forces and posed an immediate threat to them. According to the initial review, the soldiers responded toward several individuals,” Hagari said.
But the UN team, medics and rights monitors say evidence points to heavy shooting by Israeli forces. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the “massacre” while global leaders, including the UN chief, called for an independent investigation.
Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said the military “initially tried to pin the blame on the crowd”, saying that dozens were hurt as a consequence of being crushed and trampled in a stampede when aid trucks arrived. “And then, after some pushing, the Israelis went on to say that their troops felt threatened, that hundreds of troops approached their troops in a way they posed a threat to them so they responded by opening fire,” Smith added. However, they didn’t explain how those people posed a threat.
Witnesses insisted that the stampede happened only after Israeli troops started firing at people looking for food.
Israel’s claim on ‘flour massacre’ contradicts evidence: Amnesty official
Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International, says Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged under international law to cater to the needs of the population it occupies. She stressed that Israel controls what goes into Gaza by way of food, medical supplies and humanitarian aid. “Those restrictions have increased exponentially since October 7,” Rovera told Al Jazeera, pointing to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since 2007.
“There is concrete evidence that contradicts whatever statements are being made by the Israeli authorities” on the killing of 117 Palestinians while collecting food aid on February 29, she said. Israel on Sunday denied its military was responsible for the deaths, which triggered global condemnation and calls for an independent inquiry.
The purported finding is against the video evidence, witness accounts and accounts of the Palestinian officials, who said the victims were attacked by Israeli troops while waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City. UN officials said on Saturday that many of those wounded near the aid convoy sustained bullet injuries. Rovera also reminded that the Israeli authorities prevent human rights officers and journalists from entering Gaza to carry out independent investigations.
Next war crime
At least nine killed after Israeli air strike hits aid truck in Deir el-Balah
At least nine people have been killed and many others injured in an Israeli bombing of an aid truck in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to witnesses cited by the Wafa news agency.
The Israeli bombing hit the truck belonging to a Kuwaiti association in the Brook area on al-Rashid Street, according to Al Jazeera sources.
A view of a heavily damaged humanitarian aid vehicle, which has been the target of Israeli air strikes resulting in the killing of nine and dozens of injuries in Deir el-Balah
Israel’s targeting of Deir el-Balah aid truck is ‘insistence on genocide’
Hamas says Israel’s targeting of relief convoys, the latest of which was an aid truck in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, is “an affirmation and insistence on its part to continue the war of genocide”.
“The occupation’s continued targeting of aid convoys expresses an unprecedented level of criminality and brutality in contemporary history,” a statement from Hamas said on Sunday. Israel is practising systematic starvation and deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip in complete disregard for humanitarian laws, the statement added.
Palestinian people try to remove the debris from a heavily damaged aid vehicle
Eyewitnesses describe Israel’s attack on aid truck in Deir el-Balah
One of the witnesses has told Al Jazeera that he was on his way to a water well when the area was “showered with missiles, shrapnel flying around, body parts in the air”. “This truck was carrying relief aid, with civilian volunteers on board. They were carrying food items to displaced Gaza people. It is alleged that Deir el-Balah is a safe zone,” he said.
“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is waging a genocide and a starvation war. However, we are holding our ground. He cannot bring the Gaza people to their knees, I repeat, we will not bow to Israel.”
Another eyewitness told Al Jazeera that “there is no safe inch in Gaza”. “Hospitals, schools, even tents are attacked; even journalists are not spared; and now the trickling relief aid is targeted. What is left for us? This is a sin,” he said.
A third person told Al Jazeera that “every single civilian and any moving object is targeted by the Israelis”. “Every one of us walks carrying his own shroud,” she said.
Palestinians rescue people trapped under rubble after Israeli attack in Rafah
Search and rescue efforts are carried out by locals after the Israeli attacks
