Gaza: “dozens of victims”, threat of truce… what is known about the shooting during the distribution of food aid

The distribution of humanitarian aid this Thursday in Gaza City turned into chaos, and the war between Israel and Hamas has already resulted in the deaths of “more than 30,000 people” in the territory, according to a report presented by the Palestinian movement on the same day.

What’s happened ?

This Thursday, a doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern city of Gaza announced that soldiers had shot at “thousands of citizens” who were rushing to aid trucks.

Witnesses told AFP of scenes as thousands of people rushed towards aid trucks at a roundabout in the west of the city.

On X (formerly Twitter), the IDF said residents “surrounded trucks” that entered northern Gaza and “looted” their cargo.

Israeli sources confirmed shooting into the crowd but denied responsibility for the large death toll. The Israeli army explained to AFP that its soldiers opened fire with live ammunition after sensing a “threat.”

What is the result?

The number of victims is currently unknown. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the “toll of those killed in the Ar-Rashid Street massacre” is “104 dead and 760 wounded.” The American news agency Associated Press reports the death of at least 70 people.

The IDF reports on X that “dozens of Gazans were killed and injured as a result of stampedes, trampling and being crushed by trucks.”

The director of a hospital in Gaza City, quoted by Reuters, said he received more than a dozen bodies as a result of the attack, as well as dozens of wounded. “We don’t know how many more victims were taken to other hospitals,” he said. The hospital’s head of emergency services, Kamal Adwan, lamented the insufficient number of ambulances given the number of dead and injured. Some of them were allegedly taken away in carts, he told the AP.

The Palestine Red Crescent humanitarian organization confirmed to Al Jazeera that it was unable to cope with the influx of victims. “As we speak, the entire health system in the Gaza Strip is collapsing, there is no more fuel (to supply hospitals),” he describes. According to the Red Crescent, twenty NGO workers were killed in the attack.

According to Hamas, the truce is under threat

Hamas warned that the drama could prevent a new truce with Israel, in a statement cited by Reuters. The mediating countries are hoping for a break before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month that begins on the evening of March 10 or 11, but have so far reported no concrete progress.

“The death toll in Gaza has exceeded 30,000, the vast majority of whom are women and children. More than 70,000 Palestinians were injured. This horrific violence and suffering must end. Ceasefire,” World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media X.

Gaza is in the throes of famine

Across the Gaza Strip, civilians have been subjected to daily fighting and bombings that have not affected any areas, devastated entire neighborhoods and forced thousands of families to flee.

“We haven’t eaten bread for two months. Our children are starving,” Muhammad Yassin, a 35-year-old man living in Zeitoun in the north of the country, who went out early in the morning to buy flour and found “thousands of people waiting for long hours to get one or two kilograms of flour,” told AFP. “This is a crime and a disaster. Such an unfair world,” he added.

According to the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), humanitarian needs are “unlimited.” “Famine is coming. Hospitals have become battlefields. One million children experience trauma every day,” UNRWA said.