An initial Israeli investigation into an incident on Thursday morning in which dozens of Gazans were reportedly killed during a riot that erupted following the entry of aid trucks into the northern Gaza Strip found that most died from being crushed, run over or trampled.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, residents surrounded the trucks on Al-Rashid Street, southwest of Gaza City, and looted the supplies, with multiple Palestinians being struck by the trucks or crushed by the crowd.
The incident began at around 4 a.m., when some 30 trucks passed an IDF checkpoint to deliver food in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood. Thousands of Gazans rushed the trucks after they passed the checkpoint, resulting in a deadly stampede.
According to the IDF probe, some of the trucks continued further north, where Palestinian gunmen reportedly fired at the convoy and looted it.
Some in the crowd who rushed the last truck in the convoy then began moving toward Israeli forces tasked with coordinating the entry of aid into the Strip in a way that “endangered” the troops, according to the IDF. This prompted an officer stationed at the checkpoint to fire warning shots in the air, after which troops fired at the legs of those who continued to move towards Israeli forces.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported that 104 people died during the riot, and the terrorist group is reportedly threatening to halt ongoing hostage negotiations over the incident, which it is calling a “massacre.”
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s office also described it in those terms, adding that the “occupation army” bears full responsibility.
The IDF released aerial footage of the incident.
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