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Palestinians crowd around an aid delivery in the northern Gaza Strip (Feb. 26 photo)

Photo: AFP

Israeli soldiers fired into a crowd of people waiting for aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military (IDF) confirmed this to the daily newspaper Haaretz.

Accordingly, the soldiers felt threatened after people surrounded trucks.

Several Israeli media outlets reported, citing army sources, that for an unknown reason some of the crowd approached the soldiers who were coordinating the import of the trucks and thus endangered them.

Accordingly, the military opened fire on the group.

The IDF released a statement saying dozens of people were injured as the crowd trampled on them.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, more than 104 people were killed in the incident.

There are also reports of numerous injuries.

The information provided by the Ministry of Health cannot be independently verified.

Hamas is already threatening that the incident would jeopardize talks about a possible hostage deal.

The humanitarian emergency in the Gaza Strip continues to worsen.

There have been repeated chaotic scenes and scuffles during the distribution of relief supplies.

Many trucks carrying relief supplies were not allowed to reach their destination - this also contributed to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

In addition, there is always looting.

Amount of aid deliveries halved

Aid organizations describe the situation after five months of war as catastrophic.

The people are suffering from hunger and thirst because neither the food nor drinking water delivered is enough for the approximately 2.2 million people in the coastal area.

According to the UN, the amount of aid delivered in February was halved compared to the previous month.

UN officials warn that thousands of civilians will starve to death.

According to the UN emergency relief agency OCHA, there are also signs that public order in the Gaza Strip is collapsing as a result of the war.

There are gangs that want to enrich themselves through aid deliveries, said OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke on Tuesday.

Trucks carrying relief supplies are often stopped and emptied just a few hundred meters behind the border.

The goods later appeared on black markets.

According to the information, there is practically no police presence anymore.

OCHA and other aid organizations criticize Israel for not allowing enough aid deliveries.

Israel, for its part, says the organizations work too slowly in transporting and distributing goods.

The World Food Program (WFP) recently said that the conditions in the Gaza Strip hardly allow humanitarian deliveries.

Helpers would be hindered and convoys would be looted.

The Gaza war was triggered by an unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7th.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began.

muk/Reuters/dpa