More than a hundred people in Gaza died in line for humanitarian aid

Palestinians say that the Israeli military opened fire on the crowd. They assure the IDF that people died as a result of a crush, and not because of shooting

More than a hundred people died in line for humanitarian aid in the gas sector early in the morning of February 29. According to the Palestinian side, this happened due to the fact that the Israeli military opened fire on the crowd. The IDF states that the overwhelming number of victims is caused by a crush that is not related to shooting.

The incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m. local time, when about 30 trucks with humanitarian aid arrived in the AN-NABLUSI area in Gaza. They moved from the southern part of the sector to the north. According to eyewitnesses, people crowded around cars in the hope of getting food when Israeli tanks and drones opened fire on them. The correspondent of Al-Jazira from the scene said that after shooting the tanks began to put pressure on the audience.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is subordinated to the terrorist movement of Hamas, at least 112 people were killed as a result of shooting, another 760 were injured. Al-Jazis reports that, probably, the number of victims will grow, since in nearby hospitals it is impossible to ensure proper leaving seriously wounded due to insufficient fuel and drugs.

Israel confirmed that the incident really took place, but denies that the military purposefully fired at the crowd. According to the IDF, after the trucks drove the Israeli checkpoint in Gaza, they were surrounded by hundreds of people trying to plunder cars. This led to a crush, which became the main cause of the death of people. Some of them were shot down by trucks trying to drive on.

The military published a video from a drone, which shows how hundreds of people crowd around trucks with humanitarian aid; On the frames, cars ride right through the crowd.

The representative of the IDF also admitted that the military really opened fire, but stated that it was a separate incident. According to Israel, after the column passage, several dozen Palestinians began to move towards the checkpoint, which was a danger to the soldiers - then they began to shoot into the air, and then to defeat. According to the IDF, “less than 10 people” died directly as a result of shooting.

CNN with reference to a local journalist who witnessed the incident, also reports that most people died under the wheels of cars during the crush. At the same time, the journalist assures that the crush began only after the Israeli soldiers opened fire.

The Palestine Foreign Ministry condemned the actions of Israel, calling the incident “cold -blooded massacre”. The department called on the international community to urgently intervene and ensure the ceasefire in the gas sector, calling this the only opportunity to protect civilians.

The United States called the incident a "serious incident", emphasizing that they are studying the incoming information. In connection with the incident, the UN Security Council will gather at an emergency meeting.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, the total number of victims of the war among the sector population exceeded 30 thousand people. There is no independent evidence of this information, however, the UN and the Red Cross previously stated that they generally consider the assessments of the Gaza Ministry of Health appropriate.