Israeli forces opened fire on Thursday as a crowd gathered near a convoy of aid trucks in Gaza City in a chaotic scene in which scores were killed and injured, according to Gazan officials and the Israeli military, which attributed most of the deaths to a stampede, The New York Times reports.
Although officials from both sides offered differing accounts, the deaths of so many people who were surrounding a convoy carrying food in a part of Gaza where starvation is rampant reflected the desperation and spiraling lawlessness in the territory following Israel’s ground invasion and threatened to derail ongoing cease-fire talks.
The Gazan health ministry said in a statement that Israeli forces had killed more than 100 people and had injured 700 others in a “massacre,” as they waited for food from the convoy.
The latest bloodshed came as Gaza’s health officials reported that the death toll from the war had risen above 30,000, a grim milestone that intensified pressure on Israel to end its military offensive.
“We did not fire on those seeking aid, despite the accusations,” he said in a televised briefing. “We did not fire on the humanitarian convoy, either from the air or the land. We secured it so it could reach northern Gaza.”
