They set out of their hundreds, tenting in a single day alongside the coastal highway on Gaza’s chilly nights, constructing small fires for heat and huddled collectively as they waited for provides to feed their households. .
When help vehicles lastly arrived within the pre-dawn darkness on Thursday, Israeli forces opened fireplace on the hungry and determined Palestinians who poured in, in response to three witnesses and a health care provider who handled the wounded. What they encountered was dying and damage.
“I noticed issues I by no means anticipated to see,” mentioned Mohamed Al Shori, who camped out in a single day to get an opportunity to feed his household. “I noticed folks falling to the bottom after being shot, and other people simply operating for his or her lives, grabbing no matter meals that they had.”
More than 100 Palestinians had been killed Thursday morning when Israeli forces opened fireplace as massive crowds of individuals crowded round an help truck, Gaza well being officers mentioned.
Israeli navy spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari confirmed that Israeli forces opened fireplace “when the insurgents made actions that put them in danger,” however didn’t elaborate. But he denied that the troopers opened fireplace on folks making an attempt to get meals. “Despite the accusations, we didn’t open fireplace on folks in search of help,” he mentioned. Admiral Hagari mentioned a lot of the deaths had been brought on by trampling by the gang, whereas some had been hit by rescue autos.
The convoy of vehicles was lengthy and it was tough to find out what was taking place within the numerous areas within the darkness. However, al-Shori and two different witnesses mentioned in phone interviews that they noticed Israeli forces firing immediately at individuals who had been making an attempt to achieve the convoy. Al Shori mentioned he additionally noticed folks being hit by vehicles throughout the chaos. Doctors at a close-by hospital mentioned a number of folks had suffered gunshot wounds.
In latest weeks, massive teams of individuals have arrange camps or rushed convoys in search of help as Israeli forces proceed to push via a virtually five-month-long Israeli navy offensive that features heavy shelling, sieges, and floor invasions. They hope for some sort of reduction from the extreme famine that has struck them. .
Al-Shori, a 34-year-old taxi driver, selected to not be part of the hundreds of individuals gathered close to Gaza City’s Nabulsi roundabout as a result of he and his household, together with three younger kids, are surviving on a meager earnings. He mentioned he did not get it. Spices, flour and wild greens they will discover.
He had heard that folks had acquired luggage of flour from an help truck on Wednesday, and there have been rumors that one other convoy was coming. So, round 7pm, he went along with his pals to the roundabout in Nabulsi and waited.
He mentioned he had by no means seen so many individuals collect in the identical place. Others mentioned tens of hundreds of individuals had been ready.
“Just earlier than the truck arrived, tanks began shifting in direction of us. It was round 3:30 a.m. they usually fired a number of pictures into the air,” al-Shori mentioned in a phone interview. “That tank fired at the least one shell. As it acquired darkish, I ran again in direction of the destroyed constructing and took shelter there.”
Witnesses mentioned help vehicles arrived shortly after, folks ran for his or her lives and gunfire started.
“As at all times, when help vehicles arrived, folks ran in direction of them to seize meals, drink and anything they might get,” mentioned Gaza City photographer Mohammad Hammoudeh. mentioned. But when the folks reached the truck, “tanks began firing immediately on the folks,” he mentioned.
He added: “I noticed them firing machine weapons immediately.”
Hammoudeh mentioned regardless of worry and panic on the scene, many individuals had been nonetheless speeding for provides. “People had been scared, however not all. Some risked dying simply to get meals,” he mentioned. “They simply need to reside.”
Witnesses mentioned the tanks continued to fireside shells even after folks started to flee. They mentioned the tanks arrived between 3 and 4 a.m. and commenced common shelling of Gazans, stopping round 7 a.m.
The Israeli navy didn’t reply to questions on whether or not Israeli tanks fired earlier than or after the help vehicles arrived. Admiral Hagari mentioned the truck approached Gaza City at round 4:45 a.m.
Partial drone video footage launched by the Israeli navy and social media movies from the scene analyzed by The New York Times don’t totally clarify the sequence of occasions. Video footage exhibits panicked folks evacuating and other people grabbing meals from vehicles.
Al Shori described the chaos as he escaped from the help truck and other people round him had been hit.
“I noticed folks falling to the bottom,” Al Shori mentioned. “The man subsequent to me acquired shot within the arm and instantly misplaced his finger.”
While fleeing, he mentioned he noticed about 30 folks lifeless and injured on the bottom. One of the lifeless was his cousin, who was shot whereas operating with a bag of flour. He recalled seeing a boy, about 12 years previous, mendacity on the bottom with blood operating from his face, about 150 meters away from one of many tanks.
A 3rd witness, a journalist, who spoke on situation of anonymity for worry of retaliation from Israeli forces, mentioned Israeli shelling was so intense that it was tough to get near the wounded.
None of the witnesses reported seeing folks trampled to dying. Al Shori mentioned he noticed a number of folks hit by vehicles. Doctor Yehia al-Masri, who was on the scene Thursday, mentioned he noticed dozens of individuals with gunshot wounds, whereas others appeared to have died in gang violence or been hit by rescue autos. Stated.
The tanks stopped firing round 7 a.m., however didn’t again down. Hammoudeh mentioned folks started dragging and carrying away the lifeless and injured, professing their Muslim religion, fearing that the tanks would begin firing once more.
Ambulances had been gathered a few mile away, however they might not get any nearer for worry of Israeli fireplace. Some carried the injured on donkey carts or took them to the hospital themselves.
A Palestinian receives remedy at Kamal Edwan Hospital within the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
About 150 injured folks and 12 of the lifeless have arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital, mentioned Dr. Eid Saba, the hospital’s nursing director. He mentioned about 95% of the accidents had been gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach.
Many of the injured had been in critical situation and required surgical procedure. However, the hospital, like a number of others nonetheless functioning in Gaza, suffered from shortages of electrical energy, gas, medical gear, and drugs.
In three well-equipped working rooms, medical employees had been capable of carry out solely 20 operations with out anesthesia and with painkillers, Dr. Sabbah mentioned. Like meals provides, medical help has additionally been briefly provide over the previous 4 months, with the few hospitals nonetheless struggling to deal with sufferers past first help.
Dr. Saba warned that lots of these injured in Thursday’s capturing won’t be able to obtain correct remedy in hospitals.
“In the ICU, we’ve got sufferers who require specialization and drugs and who require advanced surgical procedures,” he mentioned. “Their solely hope is to be transferred outdoors of Gaza for remedy.”
Nader Ibrahim contributed to this report.
—Raja Abdulrahim and Abu Bakr Bashir