Survivors of Gaza aid convoy massacre describe ‘indiscriminate’ Israeli fire
Palestinians inspect the remains of a heavily damaged humanitarian aid vehicle destroyed by Israeli airstrikes; the airstrike also killed nine Palestinians and injured dozens, in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on 3 March 2024
Mahmoud Mushtaha reports in +972 on 5 March 2024:
In the early hours of February 29, more than 110 Palestinians were killed and several hundred wounded in northern Gaza when a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid reached Gaza City, where a starving crowd had amassed near the coast. Israel immediately denied responsibility for the casualties, releasing edited drone footage purporting to show that its forces “didn’t open fire on those seeking aid” and shot only at “several individuals” who “posed a threat”; instead, Israel accused the Palestinians of “trampling other Gazans to death.” However, testimonies gathered by +972 Magazine from Palestinians who survived what they are calling the “starvation massacre” describe Israeli forces opening fire indiscriminately on the crowd.
On the evening of February 28, tens of thousands of the Palestinians who remain in northern Gaza — who number approximately 300,000 and are beginning to starve to death as a result of Israel’s intensified siege since October 7 and the severe lack of aid reaching the north — started amassing along Al-Rashid Street, west of Gaza City. At around 9 p.m., according to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces conducted a sweep of high-rise blocks still standing in the area. Tanks fired shells at some of the buildings, while soldiers fired their guns into the air to frighten the crowd.
“At that point, my uncle wanted to go home, saying it was too dangerous,” Abdel Jalil Al-Fayoumi, 22, who was waiting on Al-Rashid Street with his uncle Abbas and 15-year-old cousin Moatasem told +972. “But people reassured us that the army conducts these sweeps just to intimidate us, and they won’t directly harm us. There was a sense of hope and even joy that we would get flour to take back to our families.”
The convoy of aid trucks eventually arrived at around 4.45 a.m., before sunrise, and was immediately swarmed by the crowd. “I couldn’t see the truck; I just saw its lights, and people rushing toward it,” Al-Fayoumi continued. “Suddenly, intense gunfire erupted from the Israeli tanks. I got separated from my uncle and cousin. I didn’t know what was happening; I just wanted to survive and escape. Everyone was screaming and fleeing. There were bodies on the ground, and wounded people crying for help.”