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More than 100 Palestinians were martyred and about 800 others were injured in - what was called - the “flour massacre” in the northern Gaza Strip, where the Israeli occupation forces targeted them on Wednesday night as they gathered to obtain aid at the Nabulsi roundabout, while US President Joe Biden said that “the aid incident "It will complicate hostage negotiations."
In the latest death toll, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported - Thursday evening - that the number of martyrs had risen to 112, indicating the difficulty of providing a complete count due to the intense Israeli bombing of the area located in Gaza City near Al-Rashid Street (Al-Bahr Street).
Al Jazeera's correspondent added that the occupation vehicles swept away a number of the bodies of the martyrs who fell in the massacre.
Al Jazeera obtained scenes documenting the first moments when the occupation forces opened fire on the Palestinians while they were waiting for aid trucks to arrive.
The massacre occurred in the northern Gaza Strip, which is facing famine under the Israeli siege, with continued reports of children dying as a result of drought and malnutrition.
For his part, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that the number of those injured in the massacre was close to 800, indicating that the majority of the injuries were in the upper areas of the body.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Al-Qudra called on the international community to open a safe humanitarian corridor for aid to enter.
Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that more than 50 martyrs and 200 wounded victims of the massacre were transferred to Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.
"They were killed in cold blood"
The government media in Gaza held the American administration, the international community, and the Israeli occupation responsible for the massacre.
Director General of the Government Information Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, said that the occupation knew that the victims were arriving in the area to obtain aid, but it killed them in cold blood.
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in a statement, called on the UN Security Council and the League of Arab States to convene urgently and take action that obliges Israel to stop the mass killing and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
The movement also urged the Arab countries to come out of the "box of silence" regarding the genocide against the Palestinians, and called on the Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world to demonstrate widely in condemnation of the massacre.
On the other hand, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said that he was horrified by reports of hundreds being killed and injured while transporting aid west of Gaza City.
On the other hand, the Israeli occupation army issued a statement in which it said that crowds of Palestinians gathered and “plundered” humanitarian aid as it was transported on trucks into the northern Gaza Strip last night.
The statement added that dozens of Palestinians were injured as a result of severe crowding and being trampled while crowding around trucks loaded with aid.
An Israeli military source stated that hundreds of Palestinians approached the Israeli forces in a way that “posed a threat to them,” and that these forces responded with fire, according to his claim.
The army statement said that an investigation is underway into the incident that occurred at the Nabulsi roundabout in Gaza City.
At the same time, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir described the occupation soldiers who committed the massacre as heroes, and said that they "acted excellently against the Gazan mob who tried to harm them."
He added - in a post on the
Biden's comment
In the United States, President Joe Biden commented on the massacre by saying that “the food aid incident in Gaza will complicate negotiations regarding the hostages.”
In response to a question about whether Gaza would witness a ceasefire starting next Monday, as he previously stated, the US President said, “Maybe it will not be Monday.”
For his part, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House said that what happened in Gaza was a “serious incident,” expressing his condolences “for the loss of innocent lives.”
Waiting for trucks carrying flour and humanitarian aid.. Video scenes show hundreds of displaced people gathering on Al-Rashid Street, west of #Gaza city, under dangerous field conditions pic.twitter.com/JXhfnWJWDB
- Aljazeera.net • Al Jazeera Net (@AJArabicnet) February 28, 2024
The spokesman added that the United States acknowledges the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where “innocent Palestinians are trying to feed their families,” noting that the matter “highlights the importance of expanding and continuing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, especially through a possible temporary ceasefire.”
On the other hand, Axios quoted an American official as saying that the United States asked Israel for “clarifications regarding the aid convoy incident in Gaza.”
Since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which was carried out by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies