Israel Accused Of Opening Fire On Crowd Surrounding Aid Trucks In Gaza
There are reports of a mass casualty event in Gaza City on Thursday, with Hamas claiming at least 104 Palestinians killed and several hundred wounded or injured (though casualty numbers have fluctuated in the immediate aftermath). However, Israel is disputing local accounts of what happened and says people died following a stamped caused by Palestinians rushing aid trucks.
There are several different versions of what happened, but all accounts agree that mayhem was unleashed when some 30 humanitarian aid trucks containing food were positioned on the street under Israeli protection. Gaza has been on the brink of famine, and so reportedly hundreds of people rushed toward to trucks hoping to obtain something.
And that's when according to The Guardian, "An Israeli source said Israeli troops opened fire on Thursday at 'several people' among a crowd that surrounded aid trucks in the Gaza Strip after feeling under threat."
Quickly in the aftermath, and as gruesome videos emerged from the scene, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement condemning what he described as "the ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army this morning."
Palestinians say that Israeli troops shot indiscriminately into the crowd and used the aid trucks in a kind of "ambush" - while Israel's military says people were killed in a "stampede for aid" and "crowd crush", and that some of the deaths were the result of Israeli soldiers being under immediate threat.
