More than 100 Palestinians died this Thursday while awaiting the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Hamas claimed that the victims were killed by Israeli gunfire, but the Israeli army denied the version.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers shot at a group of people who approached a checkpoint and claimed that most of the casualties were caused by a stampede and after being run over by supply vehicles.

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The incident occurred on Al Rashid Street, in the southeast of Gaza City, where about 30 aid trucks had arrived.

The war in Gaza has caused more than 30,000 victims, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, since it began on October 7 after the brutal Hamas attack in southern Israel, which left 1,200 dead and 240 kidnapped.

What happened in Gaza

According to a doctor at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, quoted by AFPthe soldiers shot at “thousands of citizens” who approached the aid trucks.

“The death toll from the Al Rashid Street massacre is now 104 dead and 760 injured«said the Hamas Health Ministry spokesman, Ashraf Al Qudra, it’s a statement. The BBC He said the victims are more than 110.

Several witnesses reported seeing thousands of people rushing towards humanitarian aid trucks arriving at a roundabout in western Gaza City.

What Israel said about the attack

The Israeli military announced that it fired on a group that approached a checkpoint during food distribution and said that the Palestinians assumed “a threat”. According to the version, an officer ordered warning shots to be fired, which caused a stampede.

The Israel Defense Forces released drone video showing thousands of people surrounding aid trucks. In some cases, vehicles were trying to make their way through the crowd.

According to an initial investigation by the Israel Defense Forces, the vast majority of victims died after being trampled by the crowd and after being run over by aid trucks. The army said that less than 10 of the victims were a result of Israeli fire.

What Hamas said about the death of more than 100 Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid

But the Hamas government in Gaza denounced that it was a premeditated act. “The attack was premeditated and intentional, in the context of the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the people of the Gaza Strip. The occupation army knew that these victims had come to this area to obtain food and help, but he killed them in cold blood«, he denounced in a statement.

The news comes at a time when the international community is putting pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the Strip.

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This Wednesday, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahumet in his office in Jerusalem with the new UN coordinator for humanitarian aid and reconstruction of Gaza, Sigrid Kaag.

The government of the Palestinian enclave also accused Israel of wanting to “starve” Gazans and stated that more than 700,000 people are suffering from famine in the north of the Strip.

On Wednesday, 116 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Strip – 92 of them through the Kerem Shalom crossing, on the border with Israel, and 24 through the Rafah crossing, which connects with the Egyptian Sinai. Local authorities said that it is an insufficient amount to meet the pressing needs of the enclave, mired in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. The figure is below the average of 300 trucks a day that entered before the war.