Palestinian leaders and neighboring countries have condemned Israel's attacks on unarmed Palestinians collecting aid in Gaza, in an attack that has killed more than 100 people.
The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said there had been an “ugly massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation army,” following reports on Thursday that Israeli forces opened fire on people receiving aid in the southwest of Gaza City.
Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 104 people were killed and more than 750 wounded, and called on the international community to “urgently intervene” to forge a ceasefire as “the only way to protect civilians.”
“The killing of this large number of innocent civilian victims who risked their livelihood is an integral part of the genocidal war committed by the occupation government against our people,” Wafa news agency quoted Abbas' office as saying.
“The Israeli occupation authorities bear full responsibility and will be held accountable before international courts.”
The Palestinian group Hamas called the attack “a heinous massacre that adds to the long series of massacres committed by the Zionist criminal entity against our Palestinian people.”
In a statement, the group, which fights Israel in Gaza, said the deadly attack on aid seekers was “unprecedented in the history of war crimes” and was part of Israel's “hunger war” against the Palestinians in the enclave.
He called on the United Nations Security Council and the Arab States to take decisions that would force Israel to stop its mass murders, its ethnic cleansing, its genocide and its violations of international law in Gaza.
Hamas also said it blames Israel and President Joe Biden's US administration for the escalation of the war.
Western “complicity”
Following news of the attack, the Israeli military claimed that civilians in Gaza had attacked aid trucks and that dozens of people had been trampled, although this was disputed by witness accounts.
“At some point, the trucks were overwhelmed and the people driving them, who were civilian drivers from Gaza, crashed into the crowd and ultimately killed, as I understand it, dozens of people,” the government spokesman told reporters. Israeli, Avi Hyman.
“It's obviously a tragedy, but we're not sure of the details yet.”
Palestinian novelist Yusri al-Ghoul, who witnessed the incident, spoke to Al Jazeera from Gaza City's Shati camp.
“They [Israel] They are always saying their propaganda… I heard them when they insult us and shout at us Palestinians, even at the children… [saying] We will kill them every day,” he said.
“[If it was because of overcrowding], why did they shoot his knees and elbows? …Why did Israeli tanks attack Palestinian civilians?”
The White House said it was investigating reports of Israeli shooting at Palestinians and described it as a “serious incident.”
“We mourn the loss of innocent lives and recognize the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where innocent Palestinians are just trying to feed their families,” a White House National Security Council spokesman said in a statement Thursday.
US President Joe Biden later said Washington was checking “two competing versions of what happened”, before adding that the killings would make negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza more difficult.
United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said he was shocked by “reports of deaths and injuries of hundreds of people.”
“Even after almost five months of brutal hostilities, Gaza still has the ability to surprise us,” Griffiths said. “Life is escaping from Gaza at a terrifying speed.”
International condemnation
Meanwhile, Egypt, Israel's neighbor in the southern Gaza Strip, condemned the attack.
“We condemn the inhumane Israeli attacks against… unarmed Palestinian civilians at the Nabulsi roundabout in northern Gaza,” Egypt's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “We consider attacking peaceful citizens rushing to collect their share of aid to be a shameful crime and a flagrant violation of international law.”
Jordan's Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying: “We condemn the brutal attack by the Israeli occupation forces on the gathering of Palestinians waiting for help at the Nabulsi roundabout near Al-Rashid Street in Gaza “.
Saudi Arabia also joined the condemnation. A Foreign Ministry statement said Riyadh rejected “violations of international humanitarian law by any side and under any circumstances” and called on the international community to force Israel to open safe humanitarian corridors to Gaza.
For her part, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter said she was “horrified by the news of today's massacre.”
“Killing people who were queuing for essential humanitarian aid?” De Sutter wrote in a social media post. “This is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and goes totally against the [International Court of Justice’s] provisional measures.”
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, called the attack another “horrible crime” committed by Israel.
“These were civilians who are starving because Israel has been depriving them of food for months and not allowing them any supplies for more than a month,” he told Al Jazeera from Moscow.
“And then they try to justify it by saying that the Palestinians are responsible for being killed by the same Israeli soldiers? Is incredible.”
Barghouti also denounced “the silence” of Western countries and blamed their governments for being “complicit in these crimes and allowing them to occur.”
“This should stop immediately,” he said. “It cannot be stopped without an immediate, permanent, complete and total ceasefire.”
