Israeli forces fire on crowds surrounding Gaza aid trucks

Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinian civilians in a chaotic series of events involving trucks delivering aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and Gaza health officials said, threatening to up-end delicate negotiations to reach a ceasefire soon.

The Israeli military and Palestinian witnesses and officials gave conflicting versions of an event that Gaza health officials said killed more than 100 Palestinians and left more than 700 injured. Hamas officials paused ceasefire talks due to Thursday’s incident, Egyptian officials said.

Israeli officials said thousands of Palestinians surrounded about 30 trucks carrying aid into northern Gaza along the main seaside road at about 4am. Thursday. Dozens were fatally trampled or injured in the crush, with some being run over by trucks, Israeli officials said.

A short while later a few hundred yards away along the same road, troops near the aid trucks opened fire on civilians who approached a military crossing which included a tank and infantry soldiers, and didn’t move back after warning shots, Israeli officials said. An Israeli military spokesman said it was possible the shooting caused deaths and injuries. The incident is under review, the military said.

Several witnesses said Israeli soldiers and tanks fired at people gathered to wait for aid deliveries near the Nabulsi roundabout in northern Gaza, with some saying the shooting started before they saw the trucks arrive.

President Joe Biden said the tragedy would complicate ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as his defence secretary Lloyd Austin told congress over 25,000 women and children had been killed in the besieged enclave.

On his way to Texas to visit the border, Mr Biden told reporters he “knew” the tragedy in northern Gaza, which has spawned competing versions of events, would complicate US hopes for a ceasefire in a deadly war that began in October after Hamas murdered over 1,2000 Israelis.

“Hope springs eternal. I was on the telephone with the people in the region. I’m still — probably not by Monday, but I’m hopeful,” Mr Biden told reporters as he was boarding Marine One.

The incident underscored how dangerous aid deliveries have become in recent days as parts of Gaza descend into lawlessness after almost five months of war, during which police working under the Hamas government have vanished from the streets.

Palestinians in Gaza have become desperate for food as the war has dragged on and humanitarian aid deliveries have slowed to a trickle. Efforts to provide essentials for the population of Gaza have been paralysed by curbs on aid flowing into the enclave, Israeli strikes on aid trucks and violent attacks on aid deliveries by hungry Palestinians seeking food.

Saeb Abu Sultan, a 36-year-old father of three, said he had been reluctant to collect aid because he had heard people were sometimes shot around checkpoints, and he found it humiliating. But on Thursday he went for the first time because his family hadn’t eaten in two days.

“I knew it was a risk,” he said. “But to our shock, Israeli military vehicles were coming towards Duwar Nabulsi and opened fire toward the people and we started running,” he said. “The trucks didn’t stop. I swear there were people under the trucks.”

The incident came as the death toll in Gaza surpassed 30,000 people killed since Israel launched its war against Hamas, amid international pressure on Israel to abort plans to attack Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering.

The total death toll from the war — equivalent to about 1.3 per cent of Gaza’s entire population — includes more than 12,500 children and over 8,500 women, around two-thirds of the total, according to Palestinian health authorities whose figures don’t distinguish between civilians and militants. Nearly 75,000 people have been injured.

About two million people have been displaced by the fighting, half of them crammed into Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city near the Egyptian border, where Israel has said it would launch a fresh offensive if a ceasefire deal isn’t reached before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, set to begin around March 10.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, the majority civilians, began in northern Gaza, before expanding south, where the Israeli military says it is continuing operations against the last remaining Hamas strongholds.

Aid trucks that enter Gaza have to pass through Israeli military checkpoints to receive approval, and while they wait, often for lengthy periods, crowds of people gather, sometimes resulting in the trucks getting looted. The U.N. has previously complained to the Israeli military about the long waits.

In recent weeks, the Israeli military has resumed bombings in the north after a resurgence of Hamas fighters there, saying Thursday that its forces had recently killed several Palestinian militants in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in addition to destroying tunnel shafts and confiscating weapons. The Israeli military has also continued air strikes and other operations in the southern city of Khan Younis, where most of its forces are concentrated.

The actual death toll is likely higher than 30,000, according to United Nations officials and medical workers. Retrieving dead bodies has become harder and more dangerous as the war has progressed, making it increasingly difficult to estimate how many could still be trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Nearly 8,000 Gazans are reported missing.

“There will be a lot of deaths that are missed, it’s a big undercount,” said a Western U.N. official. On top of that, preventable deaths are likely to rise due to the virtual collapse of the healthcare system — deaths that aren’t included in the war toll.

Palestinian health authorities typically report deaths based on data compiled by hospitals. But with just 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals only partially functioning, fewer deaths are being registered through them than in the earlier months of the war.

Israeli officials privately say the Palestinian death toll is roughly accurate but dispute the composition, saying over one-third of those killed were Hamas fighters. The U.S. intelligence community earlier said it is relatively confident that reports on the death toll from health authorities in Gaza are roughly accurate.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday and answering a question about how many Palestinian women and children had been killed by Israel since October 7, said: “It’s over 25,000.” U.S. and Arab negotiators are pushing Israel and Hamas to agree by next week to a deal that would ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by allowing in more aid deliveries, pause fighting and release hostages. Of the more than 200 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack, 130 remain in captivity, including 31 dead bodies, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.

Mediators this week continued intensive talks with Hamas and Israel to close the gaps over a deal involving a truce of at least 40 days and the exchange of roughly 40 hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and 500 trucks of aid daily.

President Biden, asked whether Thursday’s incident in Gaza would complicate ceasefire negotiations, said, “I know it will.” He said he was still hopeful of a deal, but not by Monday, as he had initially hoped.

One of the main sticking points is a disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the ratio of Palestinian prisoners who would be released in return for hostages. Previously during the war, Israel has released three Palestinian prisoners for every female or child hostage. According to a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Israel is willing to exchange 404 Palestinians for 40 hostages — including 90 Palestinian prisoners, among them some convicted of serious terrorism charges — for five female Israeli soldiers.

In the past, Israel has exchanged larger numbers of prisoners for its military personnel. When abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released in 2011 after more than five years in captivity, he was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including some who had been convicted of carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians.

Another stumbling block is the limited and gradual return of Palestinians to their homes in the north of Gaza during any potential truce. Israelis have said they would be willing to allow women and children to return, but the majority of male Palestinians would be held back, Egyptian officials said.

Dow Jones