World leaders call for probe, ceasefire after Palestinians' massacre near aid convoy
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - World leaders on Friday called for an investigation and a ceasefire nearly five months into the Gaza war, a day after dozens of desperate Palestinians were martyred rushing an aid convoy.
Israeli troops opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident Thursday which the Hamas-run territory's health ministry said martyred more than 104 people in Gaza City. The deaths came after a World Food Programme official had warned: "If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza."
The Israeli military said a "stampede" occurred when thousands of Gazans surrounded the convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over. An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it "posed a threat". Gaza's health ministry called it a "massacre" and said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded. The fatalities helped push the total number of Palestinian war dead in Gaza to 30,228 mostly women and children, according to the ministry's latest toll. Overnight Thursday-Friday 83 people were martyred in strikes, the ministry said.
Call for transparency
"The Israeli army must fully investigate how the mass panic and shooting could have happened," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on social media platform X. Her French counterpart Stephane Sejourne said "there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened", and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged Israel "to protect the people in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain facts and responsibilities".
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, also writing on X, said "every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency". The head of Libya's Presidential Council, Mohamed el-Manfi, appealed for "an urgent investigation" by the United Nations Security Council into the "unprecedented crime".
US President Joe Biden -- whose country provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel -- said Washington was checking "two competing versions" of the incident. Aerial footage of the incident made clear "just how desperate the situation on the ground is", a US State Department spokesman said. Washington was pushing Israel to allow in more aid, he said.
'Day from hell'
Aerial images released by the Israeli army showed what it said were scores of people surrounding aid trucks in the city. Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, told AFP he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive.
"The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns," he said. Hagari denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time. Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to stave off starvation.
The chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said no UN agency had been involved in Thursday's aid delivery, and called the incident "another day from hell". Among its war aims, Israel says it is fighting to bring home 130 hostages captured by militants on October 7 who remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead.
