World leaders intensified calls on Friday (Mar. 1) for Israel to deliver more aid to Gaza and provide further answers regarding the deaths of dozens of Palestinians in a humanitarian convoy where hundreds of civilians were waiting for food.
Many questions remained unanswered as Israeli military and authorities offered conflicting accounts of one of the deadliest disasters involving civilians in a war that has lasted nearly five months.
Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s Foreign Minister, urged Israeli military officials to “fully explain” the deaths in northern Gaza on Thursday and joined calls for a ceasefire that would allow for the release of Israeli hostages and the entry of more aid into the territory.
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné called for an independent investigation and stated that the deadly chaos surrounding the convoy was the result of a humanitarian catastrophe that left Gaza residents “fighting for food.”
The President of Brazil, who has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, criticized Israel again after this incident, stating that “the carnage must stop in the name of humanity’s survival.”
The disaster occurred on Thursday morning (Feb. 29), when thousands of hungry people gathered near a food convoy in Gaza City, with Israeli troops and tanks nearby.
What happened next remains unclear. Gaza health authorities claim that Israeli troops fired on the crowd, killing more than 100 people and injuring another 700, in what they called a “massacre.” An Israeli military spokesperson said that soldiers opened fire “when the crowd moved in a way that put them in danger.” The military stated that most of the deaths were caused by trampling and that people were also run over by aid trucks.
None of the accounts could be independently verified, and partial drone footage released by the Israeli military, along with videos of the scene on social media analyzed by The New York Times, do not fully explain the sequence of events. The videos show people crawling and dodging for cover. A hospital in Gaza City reported receiving bodies of at least a dozen gunshot victims and treated over 100 people with gunshot wounds.
Refugees International, a advocacy group, demanded an immediate independent investigation into the disaster and called on the United States to suspend military aid to Israel until those responsible are held accountable.
“Nothing can justify the killing of desperate civilians seeking vital aid for their families,” the group stated in a statement.
Source: The New York Times