Gaza official says 104 killed rushing to aid trucks

Health authorities in Gaza have said that Israeli fire on people waiting for aid near Gaza City had killed 104 Palestinians and wounded 280, with one hospital saying it had received ten bodies and dozens of injured patients.

A spokesperson for Israel’s military said there was no knowledge of shelling at that location.

The military later said dozens of people were hurt as a result of pushing and trampling when aid trucks arrived in northern Gaza.

An Israeli source said troops opened fire at “several people” in the crowd who posed a threat to them.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office said he “condemned the ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army this morning against the people who waited for the aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout”.

A witness told AFP the violence unfolded at the Nabulsi roundabout in the western part of Gaza City, when thousands of people rushed towards the trucks.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said the incident took place at al-Nabusi roundabout west of Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave.

Medical teams were unable to cope with the volume and severity of injuries from dozens of wounded people who arrived at al-Shifa hospital, he said.

The head of Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza City, Hussam Abu Safieyah, said it had received ten dead bodies and dozens of wounded patients from the incident west of the city.

“We don’t know how many there are in other hospitals,” he told Reuters by phone.

Hamas warned in a statement that the incident could lead to the failure of talks aimed at a deal on a truce and hostage release.

“The negotiations conducted by the movement’s leadership are not an open process at the expense of the blood of our people,” it said, referring to today’s deaths and saying Israel would be responsible for any failure of the talks.

A witness said: “Trucks full of aid came too close to some army tanks that were in the area and the crowd, thousands of people, just stormed the trucks.

“The soldiers fired at the crowd as people came too close to the tanks.”

Gaza is facing an increasingly desperate humanitarian situation nearly five months into the war.

The UN estimates that 2.2 million people – the vast majority of Gaza’s population – are threatened with famine, particularly in the north where destruction, fighting and looting make the delivery of food almost impossible.

According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, just over 2,300 aid trucks have entered Gaza in February, down by around 50% compared to January.

Today’s incident in Gaza City spurred a heated exchange at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where Palestinian ambassador Ibrahim Mohammad Khraishi confronted his Israeli counterpart on the reported casualties.

“Are these human shields? Are these Hamas combatants?” Mr Khraishi said.