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CAIRO: Gaza health authorities said more than 100 Palestinians had been shot dead by Israeli forces as they waited for an aid delivery on Thursday, but Israel challenged the death toll and said many of the victims had been run over by aid trucks.
At least 112 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said, as the death toll in nearly five months of war passed 30,000.
Medics said they could not cope with the volume and severity of the injuries. Dozens were taken to Al-Shifa hospital, which is only partially operational after Israeli raids.
The loss of civilian lives was the biggest in weeks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it was an “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army on people who waited for aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout”.
Israel disputed the account. An Israeli military official said two separate incidents had occurred as the convoy of trucks passed into northern Gaza from the south along the main coastal road. In the first, he said aid trucks were surrounded by hundreds of people and, in the confusion, dozens were injured or killed, by being trampled or run over. As the trucks left, he said, some of those who had rushed the convoy approached Israeli forces including a tank, which then opened fire. “The soldiers fired warning shots in the air and then fired towards those who posed a threat and did not move away,” he said. “We’re continuing to review the circumstances.”
Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry, said the comments showed Israel “had pre-plotted intentions to carry out the new crime and massacre”, and that the death toll could rise. Hamas said the incident could jeopardise ceasefire talks in Qatar.
US President Joe Biden was asked if he thought the incident would complicate the talks, and said: “I know it will.” “We’re checking (the facts) that out right now,” Biden said. “There’s two competing versions of what happened. I don’t have an answer yet.” He also said a temporary ceasefire probably would not happen by Monday, as he had earlier predicted. “I was on the telephone with the people in the region. Probably not by Monday but I’m hopeful,” Biden said.
One video shared on social media, whose location Reuters was able to verify, showed trucks loaded with many dead bodies as well as wounded people. Another, which Reuters could not verify, showed bloodstained people being carried in a truck, bodies wrapped in shrouds and doctors treating injured patients on the hospital floor.
At least 112 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said, as the death toll in nearly five months of war passed 30,000.
Medics said they could not cope with the volume and severity of the injuries. Dozens were taken to Al-Shifa hospital, which is only partially operational after Israeli raids.
The loss of civilian lives was the biggest in weeks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it was an “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army on people who waited for aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout”.
Israel disputed the account. An Israeli military official said two separate incidents had occurred as the convoy of trucks passed into northern Gaza from the south along the main coastal road. In the first, he said aid trucks were surrounded by hundreds of people and, in the confusion, dozens were injured or killed, by being trampled or run over. As the trucks left, he said, some of those who had rushed the convoy approached Israeli forces including a tank, which then opened fire. “The soldiers fired warning shots in the air and then fired towards those who posed a threat and did not move away,” he said. “We’re continuing to review the circumstances.”
Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry, said the comments showed Israel “had pre-plotted intentions to carry out the new crime and massacre”, and that the death toll could rise. Hamas said the incident could jeopardise ceasefire talks in Qatar.
US President Joe Biden was asked if he thought the incident would complicate the talks, and said: “I know it will.” “We’re checking (the facts) that out right now,” Biden said. “There’s two competing versions of what happened. I don’t have an answer yet.” He also said a temporary ceasefire probably would not happen by Monday, as he had earlier predicted. “I was on the telephone with the people in the region. Probably not by Monday but I’m hopeful,” Biden said.
One video shared on social media, whose location Reuters was able to verify, showed trucks loaded with many dead bodies as well as wounded people. Another, which Reuters could not verify, showed bloodstained people being carried in a truck, bodies wrapped in shrouds and doctors treating injured patients on the hospital floor.
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