The competing narratives about a deadly aid distribution in Gaza, explained.
More than 100 Palestinians were killed and more than 250 were wounded in Gaza City early Thursday morning as they tried to access desperately needed aid. Eyewitness accounts point to Israeli troops opening fire on the crowd, though Israeli statements blame a stampede for the casualties.
Food, clean water, and other basic goods are nearly impossible to come by throughout Gaza due to ongoing Israeli military operations and the extreme destruction the past four months of war have wrought. Overall, humanitarian aid to Gaza has been extremely limited not only because of the difficult on-the-ground logistics and danger in delivering assistance, but also because Israel has heavily restricted aid from entering the enclave.
This is just the latest high-profile incident in which civilians and civilian institutions in Gaza have been killed in large numbers during the war in Gaza; ambulances, hospitals, schools, and other facilities run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have all been attacked in Gaza over the four months of the war, further endangering Palestinian lives already at risk not just due to bombardment, but now also starvation and disease.
In the span of five months, this conflict has killed 30,000 Palestinians and injured tens of thousands more; as already-scarce resources dwindle, those numbers are likely to increase exponentially unless there is a sustained ceasefire. How were so many people killed and wounded?
Hundreds of people in Gaza City awaited the arrival of the aid convoy — some lining up Wednesday to get the canned goods and flour from aid trucks in the besieged city. People throughout Gaza are in extreme need, but the north, where Gaza City sits, faces particularly serious and pressing shortages of the most basic goods; an aid convoy that arrived earlier this week was reportedly the first in a month.
What happened to the people waiting for aid is a matter of debate. In an emailed statement, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged an incident in Gaza City, saying only that ”Gazan residents surrounded the trucks, and looted the supplies being delivered. During the incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling. The incident is under review.
