More than 100 killed in Gaza after thousands rush aid trucks, officials say

More than 100 people were killed in northern Gaza Thursday after a crowd rushed aid trucks, resulting in people being trampled, hit by the trucks and shot, per officials. 

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 760 people were injured in what Palestinian outlet Quds News Network is calling a "massacre" that unfolded after "Israeli tanks unleashed gunfire on thousands of hungry Palestinians who were waiting for food aid trucks to arrive."

The Israel Defense Forces, however, said that when aid trucks attempted to enter the northern Gaza Strip, "a violent gathering of Gazan residents developed around the trucks, who looted the equipment that arrived."

The IDF says that dozens were injured as a result of being crushed and trampled and the incident is being reviewed. The IDF also released a satellite video showing thousands of Palestinians chaotically converging on the trucks to take supplies. The black-and-white video does not show any shots being fired by Israeli forces, nor does it clearly show trampling.

The incident began around 4 a.m. local time when about 30 aid trucks came to the coast of Gaza City to deliver food, per The Times of Israel.

"The IDF's initial investigation finds that some of the trucks managed to continue further north, where armed men reportedly opened fire at the convoy near Rimal and looted it," the outlet reported. "Dozens of Palestinians who rushed the last truck in the convoy began to move toward an IDF tank and troops stationed at the military's checkpoint, the investigation finds."

An officer in the area ordered warning shots to be fired in the air when the Palestinians were a few dozen meters away, and then to fire at the legs of people who continued forward toward the troops, the probe found.

The incident comes after the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties, said Thursday that more than 30,000 people have died since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel and killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others. 

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