Hamas rejects Israel’s ‘false and deceitful investigation’ into ‘Gaza Flour Massacre’

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - Hamas rejected the results of an Israeli investigation Friday into the "Gaza Flour Massacre" in southern Gaza City where 118 victims were killed and 760 injured.

“We reject the nominal and misleading investigation presented by the criminal Zionist occupation army today regarding the massacre of the Nablusi roundabout last week, in which about 120 Palestinians were killed while waiting to receive aid,” the Palestinian resistance group said.

“This false and deceitful investigation goes beyond the undeniable facts, which documented the direct shooting of Palestinians in the upper parts of the body with the intention of immediate killing, as evidenced by the examination of the martyrs' bodies, in addition to other evidence confirming their deliberate exposure to gunfire from soldiers and tanks,” it said.

Hamas emphasized that the “horrific massacre will remain a witness to the criminality and Nazism of this entity devoid of humanitarian and ethical values.”

It said the “massacre and other massacres and violations haunt until justice is served for our grieving Palestinian people, and its leaders and soldiers are tried for the crimes and violations they have committed against our Palestinian people.”

Hamas pointed out that the attack “has received widespread international condemnation, prompting the Zionist Nazi entity to attempt to exonerate its terrorist soldiers from the horrific crime they committed without justification, except for their thirst to kill more of our people.”

The Israeli army announced the results of a preliminary investigation into the killings and said its forces “did not open fire on the convoy itself. Rather, shots were fired at several Gazans who moved toward soldiers and a tank at an IDF checkpoint, endangering troops.”

Israeli forces opened fire on hundreds of Palestinians on Feb. 29 as they gathered to receive humanitarian aid on Al-Rashid Street, resulting in the casualties, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

More than 30,800 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 73,000 injured in Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Palestinian groups estimate that thousands of Palestinians have been detained by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala