A new deadly food distribution in Gaza City
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported five deaths and 30 injured this Saturday, March 30 before dawn in Gaza City, by shooting and a stampede during a new distribution of food aid which degenerated.
Palestinians carry bags of flour after an aid truck passed near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, February 19, 2024 (illustrative image). © Kosay Al Nemer / Reuters
By: RFI with AFP
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This new tragedy occurred at dawn while thousands of people were waiting for the arrival of around fifteen trucks of flour and other food, according to the relief organization, at the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza
,
theater previous incidents in recent weeks. Videos filmed by AFP show trucks advancing in the dark, amid trash fires. We hear shots all around, screams and the horns of heavy goods vehicles trying to advance. Three of the dead died from gunfire, according to the Red Crescent.
According to testimonies, members of “
popular protection committees
”, responsible for supervising the distribution, fired into the air, while in the stampede and confusion, trucks ran over people. At the same time, the testimonies also mention “
heavy
” fire
from Israeli tanks positioned a few hundred meters away, without specifying their destination.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army responded that
it had “no trace of the incident
”. The victims were transported to Gaza Baptist Hospital.
Read alsoWar in Gaza: Israel ordered by the ICJ to let humanitarian aid pass
In Gaza, which is threatened with famine, several distributions have degenerated in recent weeks. On Monday, six people died in stampedes trying to recover airdropped packages, according to the government of the Islamist movement Hamas. On March 23, the Hamas Ministry of Health announced 21 deaths and 23 wounded during an aid distribution at the Kuwait roundabout, blaming tank and shell fire from the Israeli army. The army denied shooting at Palestinians awaiting this distribution.
Other tragedies also occurred on March 14 (20 dead and more than a hundred injured at the same roundabout, according to this ministry), but also on February 29 in the west of Gaza City (120 dead, according to the same source).
New shipment of arms and ammunition from the United States to Israel
Food aid is having great difficulty reaching Gazans, particularly those remaining in the north of the Gaza Strip, numbering around 300,000, with convoys entering in dribs and drabs from the south of the territory. Israel must "
allow UNRWA to reach the north of the Gaza Strip with food convoys [...] daily and to open other land crossing points
", the head of the Gaza Strip again called on Friday. UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, on
In this still dramatic context, the United States has decided to authorize a new shipment of arms and ammunition to Israel, in particular 900 kilo bombs whose effects are particularly devastating, the press revealed on Friday. These new deliveries arouse harsh criticism in the United States even within the Democratic Party which is torn apart over the war led by Israel, and the support provided by Washington to the Israeli army. Several figures in the Democratic Party say they are outraged by the announcement of these new arms deliveries: a “
bad decision
” for Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, for whom the American administration cannot “
credibly lobby for the humanitarian aid
,” while providing weapons that “
indiscriminately kill innocent Palestinians
.” Same story within the American left, with Bernie Sanders: the senator from Vermont evokes an obscene decision: “
we cannot one day ask for an end to the bombing of civilians, and the next day provide bombs that can level them. only entire neighborhoods
.”
The American administration, for its part, justifies the continuation of its military aid to Israel. “
Aid conditionality is not part of our policy
” with regard to Israel,
a White House official told the
Washington Post
. In other words, Washington will not use arms and ammunition deliveries as a means of pressure on Israel, denounces part of the Democratic camp and the American left. But on this point, the American administration refuses to budge, even if Joe Biden is increasingly openly disagreeing with the Israeli Prime Minister and with the humanitarian consequences of the war in Gaza.
Also read: In Gaza, “a real mafia gets its hands on almost all the aid”
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