GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories - Global condemnation flowed on March 1 after Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident.

The enclave’s health ministry said more than 100 people were killed.

The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the trucks.

An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat”.

Gaza’s health ministry called it a “massacre”, and said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded.

The European Union’s two top chiefs said on March 1 they were “shocked” and “deeply disturbed” by the deaths.

“Shocked and repulsed by yesterday’s killing of innocent civilians in Gaza while desperately waiting for humanitarian aid,” European Council President Charles Michel posted on X.

“An independent investigation should be launched immediately and those responsible held accountable,” he said.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she was “deeply disturbed by images from Gaza” and added that “every effort must be made to investigate what happened”.

Shortly after Mr Michel and Dr von der Leyen expressed their indignation, the European Commission announced it was strengthening aid funding for Palestinians.

Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said the EU “will proceed to paying €50 million (S$73 million) to UNRWA and increase emergency support to the Palestinians by €68 million in 2024”.

UNRWA is the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. Its funding from international partners came under threat after Israel accused some of its staff of participating in Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israeli communities near Gaza.

The EU had said it was reviewing but not suspending its funding to UNRWA in the light of the Israeli allegations.

Famine warning

While the situation is particularly acute in Gaza’s north, Gazans are struggling for food, water and medical care throughout the territory including in far-south Rafah where around 1.4 million people have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.

Israel is threatening to send in troops against Hamas fighters in Rafah.

The current war in Gaza began on Oct 7 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel. That incident left around 1,200 people dead, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliatory assault has killed more than 30,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Early on March 1, it reported another 83 people had been killed in strikes overnight.

Israel’s military says 242 of its soldiers have died in Gaza since ground operations began in late October.

The Gaza City aid incident would complicate efforts to broker a truce, US President Joe Biden said.

The White House said he spoke with Qatari and Egyptian leaders – fellow mediators – in separate phone calls to discuss both the ceasefire and the “tragic and alarming” incident.

The UN Security Council held a closed-door emergency meeting on the incident, which US deputy ambassador to the UN Robert Wood condemned before entering the chamber.

Mr Biden said Washington was checking “two competing versions” of the event that transpired early on Feb 29 in northern Gaza.

A US State Department spokesman said aerial footage of the incident made clear “just how desperate the situation on the ground is”. Washington was pushing Israel to allow in more aid, he said.

Elsewhere, French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on social media platform X, expressed his “strongest condemnation of these shootings” and called for “truth, justice, and respect for international law”.

Iran denounced “the barbaric attack by the Zionist regime”, China said it was “shocked”, and the head of the Arab League said the “brutal” act showed “total contempt for human life”.

The deaths came after the World Food Programme’s deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council on Feb 27: “If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza.”

‘Desperate’

Washington has three times blocked Security Council resolutions for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“This outrageous massacre is a testimony to the fact that as long as the Security Council is paralysed” and vetoes cast, “then it is costing the Palestinian people their lives”, Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said ahead of the council meeting.

Separately, Saudi Arabia strongly condemned what it called the “targeting” of unarmed civilians, while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also issued condemnations.

Qatar warned that Israel’s “disregard for Palestinian blood... (will) pave the way for an expanding cycle of violence”.

Turkey said the incident “is evidence that (Israel) aims consciously and collectively to destroy the Palestinian people”.

Spain said the “unacceptable” events underline the “urgency of a ceasefire”, while European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell expressed horror at “yet another carnage among civilians in Gaza desperate for humanitarian aid”.

Further afield, in South America, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the suspension of arms purchases from Israel after the “genocide” in Gaza City.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the incident would require an effective independent investigation. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a similar call on March 1.

“The Israeli army must fully investigate how the mass panic and shooting could have happened,” Ms Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter, also calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.

Information conflicted on what exactly unfolded there.

One witness, declining to be named for safety reasons, said the violence began when thousands of people rushed towards aid trucks at the city’s Nabulsi roundabout, with soldiers firing at the crowd “as people came too close” to tanks.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the military had fired “a few warning shots” to try to disperse a crowd that had “ambushed” the trucks.

When the crowd got too big, he said the convoy tried to retreat and “the unfortunate incident resulted in dozens of Gazans killed and injured”.

‘Day from hell’

Aerial images released by the Israeli army showed what it said were scores of people surrounding aid trucks in the city.

Mr Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, said he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive.

“The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he told AFP.

Mr Hagari denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time.

Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to stave off starvation.

The UNRWA chief said no UN agency had been involved in Feb 29’s aid delivery, and called the incident “another day from hell”.

Among its war aims, Israel says it is fighting to bring home 130 hostages captured by militants on Oct 7 who remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure over the captives.

At the latest protest in Tel Aviv on the night of Feb 29, Mr Alon Lee Green, 36, said things were at a crossroads.

“It’s either we are going into an eternal war that will never stop,” he said, “or we’re going to a diplomatic agreement, an Israeli-Palestinian peace.” AFP