Over 100 hungry, sick, desperate Palestinians killed in firing, stampede

Gaza City/Washington: More than 100 Palestinians were reportedly killed and many more injured in a tragic incident when hungry and sick people desperately swarmed trucks carrying humanitarian materials in Gaza on February 29, 2024.

The tragedy happened when humanitarian assistance was being delivered by a commercial convoy to the Palestinians, and there were no United Nations agencies involved. There have been conflicting reports about the incident. Palestinian eye-witnesses claimed Israeli Defence Forces fired on the crowd, killing some and resulting in a stampede that claimed more lives. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it an “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army”.

Israel instituted an investigation and the United States said it will look to see what the results of that investigation yield and what further measures, if any, are appropriate.

“We’ve seen the reports from the Government of Israel; we’ve seen accounts from local Palestinians who were on the scene. We don’t have ground truth on what happened. We know what we’ve seen people say publicly, and we’re seeking more information and looking for the results of the investigation,” Matthew Miller, Spokesperson of the US Department of State, said in Washington.

The aerial footage in circulation showed that desperate people swarmed these 30 trucks because they were hungry and needed food, medicines and other assistance.

The US said looking at the situation, this was the reason why it had been pushing for an opening of a crossing in northern Gaza. “We know that the situation there is incredibly dire. Even when you’ve had assistance flowing – not enough assistance flowing ever, but certainly over the past few weeks, not enough assistance flowing in the south at least there has been assistance getting in. The situation in the north has been much more difficult because of the difficulty of trucks travelling all the way from the south to the north and the difficulty of guarding those trucks, which I think is one of the things that we see today. So we continue to push for a northern crossing to be open. It continues to be a high priority for us, but I don’t have an update on it,” Miller told journalists.

The US called for an improvement in the distribution system and said it was working with the Government of Israel and the United Nations “to find a way to unstick this problem that we have right now with providing security to convoys of assistance”.

“Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed over the course of this conflict, not just today, but over the past nearly five months. And when you think about today’s tragedy, it is especially heartbreaking to consider how many of those families affected will be burying loved ones not for the first time. In fact, I’m sure that many of those affected have buried multiple loved ones over – since this conflict began,” Miller said.

The US said it was “urgently” seeking additional information on exactly what took place to establish facts on the ground. “We have been in touch with the Israeli Government since early this morning and understand that an investigation is underway. We will be monitoring that investigation closely and pressing for answers,” Miller disclosed.

This tragic event also underscored the importance of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza in response to the dire humanitarian situation, including, as the US suggested,  through a potential “temporary” ceasefire as part of a hostage deal.

“If there’s anything that the aerial footage of today’s incident makes clear, it is just how desperate the situation on the ground is. People need more food; they need more water; they need medicine and other humanitarian goods, and they need it now,” Miller said.

Washington said it continues to make clear in all of its discussions with the Government of Israel that all possible measures must be taken to allow the entry of more assistance into Gaza through as many points of access as possible and to enable the safe and secure distribution of that aid throughout Gaza.

Earlier this week the Government of Jordan facilitated an airdrop, and the US said it very much supported such a move.

“But as we have said before, the best way to alleviate the ongoing suffering of the Palestinians is to reach an agreement for a temporary ceasefire that would get hostages out, enable more aid to come in, and allow that aid to move everywhere inside Gaza,” the Spokesperson said. He claimed that the US was continuing to work, “day and night, to achieve that outcome, including through calls the President held this morning with President El-Sisi of Egypt and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim, as well as ones Secretary Blinken held earlier today with Qatari Prime Minister Al Thani”.

Miller said every leader on those calls agreed “that this terrible event underscores the urgency in bringing the hostage talks to a close”. He added: “We continue to believe a deal is possible and that a deal is in the interest of Israel, the Palestinian people, and the broader region, and we will continue to push for it to be concluded as soon as possible.”