More than 100 killed waiting for aid in Gaza as death toll surpasses 30,000

Last Updated on March 2, 2024 10:30 AM CST

At least 104 people were killed as they waited for aid to be delivered in Northern Gaza on Thursday. The chaotic incident also left 760 people injured when Israeli Defense Force opened fire as hungry Palestinian civilians gathered around food aid trucks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

An Israeli military source said troops opened fire as they believed soldiers were “endangered”. An IDF statement also said dozens were killed when they were trampled and run over by trucks. It is being reported that Israeli tanks fired on a crowd who had come to get supplies. The Israeli military says it has no knowledge of shelling in the area and that the incident is under review.

The event took place hours before Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that the official death toll surpassed 30,000, of which 21,000 were women and children. “Nothing can justify” Hamas’ “deliberate killing, injuring, torturing and kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence, or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards Israel,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech Monday. “But nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Though the U.S. says that a cease-fire may be near, the military campaign seems far from over. Hamas senior member Izzat Al-Risheq warned that the killing of people collecting aid from trucks in Gaza could lead to the failure of ongoing talks aiming at the release of hostages and a ceasefire. “Negotiations are not an open process,” he said in a statement published by the Hamas on Telegram. “We will not allow for the pathway of the negotiations…[to become] a cover for the enemy’s continued crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip,” Al-Risheq said.