More Than 100 Killed After Troops Fire on Gaza Crowd

IDF claims most of the casualties were the result of a stampede after aid trucks arrived
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 29, 2024 5:45 AM CST
Updated Feb 29, 2024 8:03 AM CST
Officials Say Strike Killed Dozens Waiting for Aid in Gaza
Palestinians wait for humanitarian aid on a beachfront in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024.   (AP Photo/Mahmoud Essa)

This story has been updated with new developments. Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed, according to health officials. Hospital officials initially reported an Israeli strike on the crowd, but witnesses later said Israeli troops opened fire as people pulled flour and canned goods off of trucks, the AP reports. Fares Afana, the head of the ambulance service at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said medics arriving at the scene found "dozens or hundreds" lying on the ground. Afana said there were not enough ambulances to collect all the dead and wounded and that some were being brought to hospitals on donkey carts.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said more than 700 people were injured. Kamel Abu Nahel, who was being treated for a gunshot wound at Shifa Hospital, says he and others went to the distribution point in the middle of the night because they heard there would be a delivery of food. "We've been eating animal feed for two months," he says. He said Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd, causing it to scatter, with some people hiding under cars. After the shooting stopped, they went back to the trucks, and the soldiers opened fire again, he says. The Times of Israel reports that the Israeli military says troops fired at Palestinians who approached a checkpoint but most of the casualties were caused by a stampede.

The Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll from the war has climbed to 30,035, with another 70,457 wounded. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures but says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed. The BBC reports that the true death toll is "likely to be far higher," since the ministry's figures do not include those who never reached hospitals. Thousands of people are believed to be dead in the rubble of destroyed buildings.

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)

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