By Ikram Kouachi
ANKARA (AA) – Israel admitted that its forces opened fire at Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City, killing more than 100 people and injuring over 700 others.
“IDF (Israel Defense Forces) forces did not shoot at the convoy. IDF forces did not shoot at people looting the trucks. IDF forces used fire when masses ran toward them in a way that threatened their lives. They were there in the first place to secure the convoy,” Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said on X on Thursday.
The spokesperson later on deleted his post and repeated claims by the Israeli army, accusing civilians of killing each other in a stampede.
“Those poor people were killed when they were crushed in a stampede and in some cases run over by the Gazan truck drivers as they tried to get out. But go ahead, blame Israel,” Levy said later.
On Thursday morning, Israeli forces shelled a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City at the "al-Nabulsi Roundabout" area, leaving at least 112 Palestinians dead and 760 others injured, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said an initial investigation found that some Palestinians approached a military checkpoint overseeing the entry of the aid trucks with soldiers firing warning shots and shooting at the legs of Palestinians who continued to move toward the troops.
Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack led by Hamas, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed.
At least 30,228 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and 71,377 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents in the north where the Thursday shootings took place, 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 stands 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.