100 dead in Gaza in humanitarian aid delivery incident
The White House claims to have received contradictory information. Israel claims there was a stampede around aid trucks, while Hamas maintains that the IDF fired on civilians.
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Several contradictory reports have arrived from Gaza Thursday about what happened during the delivery of humanitarian aid to the strip. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), a stampede occurred when a large number of people rushed the aid trucks to reach the supplies.
The IDF published a brief statement on the incident:
According to previous reports, there were around 100 fatalities due to this incident. The Hamas terrorist group directly points to the Israeli military present in the area as responsible for the tragedy. Without adding further details, Hamas maintains that Israeli troops opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid from the trucks.
AFP cites Israeli sources who add that soldiers in the area opened fire when they felt threatened. The IDF maintains that the vast majority of Palestinians died in a human stampede as they crowded around the supply convoy, according to The Jerusalem Post. The IDF published aerial images captured through a thermal camera showing the crowds of people surrounding the trucks.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman spoke about the events. "My understanding is that humanitarian aid vehicles entered the Gaza Strip and were overwhelmed by people attempting to loot, to take that aid from aid trucks." In addition to this incident, another one occurred shortly after in El-Nabusi Square. According to The Jerusalem Post, a group of Palestinian civilians then attacked another supply convoy.
Washington analyzes the images
The White House has not yet determined a conclusive version of what happened Thursday in Gaza and assured that it has received contradictory versions of the events. "We're checking that out right now. There's two competing versions of what happened. I don't have an answer yet," President Biden clarified to the media without offering more details.
The Biden administration will likely offer a verdict once all the images and evidence are analyzed, but the timing could not be worse for Biden. The Democrat and his team have been trying to promote a ceasefire agreement since last week. The U.S. government was scheduled to present its proposal next Monday. The events that occurred this Thursday could make it much more difficult to reach a truce amidst the hostilities in the Gaza Strip.
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