Many of those killed in Gaza stampede for aid were shot by Israel’s army, says EU arm

The European Union’s diplomatic service said on Saturday that an international probe is needed because several of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in the turmoil while attempting to retrieve bags of flour from an aid convoy were struck by Israeli army fire.

After nearly five months of conflict between Israel and Hamas, hundreds of thousands of people in northern Gaza are battling for survival, and their desperation is starting to outrage people. The initial airdrops of thousands of meals into Gaza were carried out by US military aircraft, while the Egyptian military also claimed to have carried out airdrops.

According to the European External Action Service, “restrictions imposed by the Israeli army and obstructions by violent extremist(s) to the supply of humanitarian aid” were to blame for the problem.

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People who live in the northern part of Gaza say they have resorted to digging through debris and trash mounds to find food for their children, who eat no more than one meal a day. In order to make bread, many families have started combining grain with animal and bird feed. Officials from international relief organizations claim to have seen terrible starvation.

According to hospital records in Gaza, at least ten children have perished from starvation, the World Health Organization stated.

Since the Islamist Hamas group launched an incursion into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and taking some 250 prisoners, northern Gaza has been the focus of the fighting.

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According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 30,320 Palestinians have died in the conflict. The ministry reports that women and children account for about two-thirds of those killed, but it does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its statistics.

More than half of the population of Gaza now resides in the southern city of Rafah, where an Israeli bomb on Saturday struck tents outside the Emirati hospital, killing 11 and injuring about 50, including medical personnel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

A large portion of the heavily populated northern Gaza was reduced to rubble by Israel’s air, sea, and land offensive. Up to 300,000 Palestinians are thought to have stayed after the military ordered them to relocate south.

The World Food Program’s deputy executive director, Carl Skau, stated last week that acute malnutrition and wasting affect almost one in six children under the age of two in the north, making it “the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world.” “There will soon be a famine in if nothing changes in northern Gaza.”

According to Skau, this has led to such desperation that locals have surrounded vehicles carrying food aid into the area and taken whatever they can, causing the WFP to halt relief supplies to the north.

“The breakdown in civil order, driven by sheer desperation, is preventing the safe distribution of aid — and we have a duty to protect our staff,” he said.

During Thursday’s violence, hundreds of protesters stormed roughly thirty vehicles that were delivering relief to the north before morning. Palestinians claimed that Israeli forces firing into the crowds were nearby. Israel said many of the victims were trampled and said they fired warning shots toward the throng.

Many of the injured in Gaza had been shot, according to medical professionals working in hospitals there and a U.N. delegation that visited one.

Before Thursday’s convoy arrived, Ahmed Abdel Karim, who was receiving treatment at Kamal Adwan Hospital for gunshot wounds to his feet, claimed to have waited two days for help trucks to arrive.

Abdel-Hai took shelter in a nearby building. When the shooting stopped, many dead people were on the ground, he said. “Many were shot in their back,” he said.

Abu Hussein, the widow, said more than 5,000 people — mostly women and children — living with her in the Jabaliya school have not received any aid for more than four weeks. Adults eat one meal or less to save food for the children, she said.

A group of people went to the shore to try to fish, but three were killed and two were wounded by gunfire from Israeli ships, she said. “They just wanted to get something for their children.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mansour Hamed, a 32-year-old former aid worker living with more than 50 relatives in a Gaza City house, said some are eating tree leaves and animal food. It has become normal to find a child coming out of the rubble with a rotten piece of bread, he said.

“They are desperate. They want anything to stay alive.”

Acknowledging the difficulty of getting aid in and the extreme need for food, U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. would look for other ways to get shipments in, “including possibly a marine corridor.” When asked if he thought Israel would fully investigate Thursday’s incident, he answered simply, “Yes.”

According to U.S. officials, the pallets dropped over Gaza on Saturday had roughly 38,000 meals and were anticipated to be the first of many. It was unclear right away where the airdrops took place.

However, the EU statement stated that airdrops “should be the solution of last resort as their impact is minimal and not devoid of risks to civilians,” mirroring the positions of humanitarian organizations such as the International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians. It demanded the dismantling of barriers from the few open land crossings into Gaza and the opening of additional ones.

Helpers hoped that a potential cease-fire would be beneficial. Cease-fire negotiations will pick back up in Cairo on Sunday, according to a top Egyptian official. The official was not authorized to speak to the media, so they spoke under the condition of anonymity.

Before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on March 10, international mediators want to come to an agreement on a six-week ceasefire and the swap of certain Israeli captives for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

(With agency inputs)