Although many details of the incident remain unclear – including, most importantly, what caused such heavy casualties – it has highlighted the desperate plight of civilians in Gaza and further complicated delicate international efforts to secure… cease-fire.
For months, amid mass urban devastation, mass displacement and worsening hunger, relief groups and humanitarian officials have warned that Gaza society is close to collapse. This was a moment when their warnings seemed prophetic.
The Israeli army released black-and-white drone footage showing hundreds of Palestinians rushing towards the slowly moving relief convoy; Video clips spread on social media showed a frantic stampede in the darkness of dawn on Al-Rashid Street, southwest of Gaza City.
Descriptions of what happened next were contradictory.
Palestinian officials said Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd, an account corroborated by eyewitnesses and doctors, who said many of the dead and wounded were brought in with gunshot wounds. Israel disputed the casualty count and said the people died in a stampede and not by Israeli gunfire — which officials described as warning shots not directed at the convoy.
Nir Dinar, head of the Israeli army's international journalism department, said that “there was no intervention by the Israeli army” in the “mass casualty” incident. He admitted that IDF soldiers at one end of the convoy opened fire on people who approached Israeli forces in a threatening manner, but said that the deaths occurred as a result of a stampede at the other end of the convoy.
“There was no IDF attack on this aid,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press conference late Thursday. “We have been conducting a humanitarian operation of this type for the past four nights without any problem. This was the first night we witnessed this type of event.”
Hajri said, “The unfortunate incident led to the death and injury of dozens of Gaza residents.”
Another Israeli official said the incident was under review, and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
“The life-saving food queue has become a death queue,” said Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director in the occupied Palestinian territories. “While children are dying from lack of food, their parents are dying trying to obtain it. There must be an immediate and impartial investigation into what happened.”
The Israeli army said that it coordinated the arrival of 38 aid trucks from Egypt, which were delivered by private sector contractors. The convoy was a rare sight in the north, the most devastated and isolated part of Gaza, which remains home to an estimated 300,000 people. In January, 1 in 6 children under the age of 2 who received support from aid groups were found to be suffering from acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF, the United Nations children's agency.
Aid deliveries across the Strip have declined in recent weeks after Israel began targeting Hamas-employed police officers who provided protection for convoys, leaving them vulnerable to looting by criminal gangs and desperate civilians. Israeli demonstrators also closed border crossings, slowing the movement of aid trucks.
Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, said on Thursday that the siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip may amount to “the use of starvation as a means of war.”
“In northern Gaza, where operational space for humanitarian action has become almost zero, many are believed to be already suffering from hunger,” he added.
Ibrahim Al-Rifi, 28, said he arrived with two cousins around 2 a.m. to the site where the aid was expected to be delivered, hoping to find food for about 60 family members who he said were suffering from “severe” hunger. When the trucks arrived shortly after 4:30, a crowd of thousands crowded into the vehicles, he said, and “suddenly, without any warning, Israeli tanks started shooting.”
Rifi said that while people were fleeing in every direction to escape the bullets, he remained on the ground to find that he was lying on top of the dead. He said: “I crawled until I found an abandoned house and hid in it.”
The Washington Post was unable to independently confirm his account.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, said that the hospital received 12 bodies, including the body of a 15-year-old child, and 175 wounded. He said: “All the cases that reached us, without exception, were injured by explosive gunshot wounds, and most of them were injured by several gunshot wounds.”
A National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement: “We mourn the loss of innocent lives and acknowledge the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, as innocent Palestinians try to feed their families.” “This underscores the importance of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including through a possible temporary ceasefire.”
On Tuesday, President Biden expressed optimism that an agreement to stop the fighting and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners could be reached by early next week, in time for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but both Israel and Hamas downplayed the progress. By diplomats in Doha, Qatar.
Hamas said on Thursday that deaths in northern Gaza may prompt the movement to withdraw from the talks completely. The movement said in a statement, “The negotiations conducted by the movement's leadership are not an open process at the expense of the blood of our people.”
As Biden headed to Brownsville, Texas, he said there were “two competing versions of what happened” and “we're checking that out.” When a reporter asked him if he was concerned that this would complicate negotiations, he was quick to respond: “I know it would complicate negotiations.”
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas-led fighters stormed Israeli border communities, killing about 1,200 people and dragging more than 250 hostages into Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday that 30,035 people had been killed during nearly five months of fighting. Although the ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, it said that the majority of those killed were women and children.
Avi Heyman, Israeli government spokesman, said on Thursday that 11,000 Hamas fighters were killed and 2,000 captured during the war. It is estimated that the number of ISIS fighters still in the field is about 15,000 fighters. Senior Hamas leaders remain at large, including Yahya Sinwar, the alleged architect of the October 7 attacks, who is believed to be hiding in the tunnel network under southern Gaza.
The Israeli military says he is surrounded by a human shield of hostages, complicating efforts to arrest or kill him and perhaps end the war.
85% of Gaza's population has been forced to leave their homes, according to the United Nations. About 1.4 million displaced people are taking refuge in the southern city of Rafah, along the Egyptian border, which Israel has identified as its next military target. US officials urged Israel to develop a plan to evacuate trapped civilians before proceeding with the operation.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week: “Under the current circumstances, without properly considering the safety and security of these refugees, we continue to believe that the operation in Rafah would be a disaster.”
Absent a ceasefire, about 58,000 additional deaths are expected in Gaza over the next six months, according to a February research study, most from traumatic injuries and infectious diseases.
Lovelac and Harb reported from London. Kate Brown in Washington and Hazem Balousha in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
