A UN team said it found “a large number” of gunshot wounds at a Gaza hospital after Israeli soldiers fired into crowds near a humanitarian aid convoy, a tragedy that highlights a desperate situation in the Palestinian territory.
On Saturday, the Israeli army continued its deadly strikes against the Gaza Strip which left at least 92 dead in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
And the United States announced its intention to join aid drops on the besieged Palestinian territory, threatened with famine and relentlessly bombed by Israel since the start of the war almost five months ago against Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007.
On Thursday, an aid distribution in Gaza turned into tragedy after Israeli fire on a hungry crowd who rushed towards humanitarian aid trucks and a stampede that left 115 dead, according to Hamas.
A UN team visited the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza the next day, which received dozens of injured people after the tragedy. They saw “a large number of gunshot wounds,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
PHOTO KOSAY AL NEMER, REUTERS
Patients treated at al-Chifa hospital on 1er March in Gaza
The international community has called for an investigation into this tragedy and an immediate ceasefire in the war triggered by a bloody attack carried out on October 7 in southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Israel, which has vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union, continued its bombings, especially in Khan Younes and Rafah in the south, according to correspondents. of the AFP.
Among the dead on Saturday in the Israeli bombardments were women and children, said the Hamas Ministry of Health, while the toll of the war in Gaza continues to rise with a total of 30,320 dead, according to the same source.
“Everyone is hungry”
Since October 7, the Israeli army has been relentlessly shelling this strip of land approximately 40 km long and 10 km wide. On October 27, its soldiers launched a ground operation in the north, which gradually extended to the south.
During the unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, at least 1,160 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Around 250 people were kidnapped. According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 31 of whom are believed to have died, after the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian detainees during a truce at the end of November.
This war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory where 2.2 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine, according to the UN.
Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are crowding into Rafah, the vast majority displaced people trapped against the closed border with Egypt, who fear an Israeli ground offensive.
“We received two bags of flour from the aid that arrived on the day of the massacre in Gaza on Thursday,” said Hicham Abou Eïd, a 28-year-old resident of the Zeitoun neighborhood: “This is not enough. Everyone is hungry. Aid is rare and insufficient. »
“Insist on Israel”
On Friday, American President Joe Biden announced that his country would participate “in the coming days” in humanitarian aid drops on Gaza.
Several countries have parachuted cargoes there in recent days, including Jordan with the support of France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as Egypt in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.
PHOTO KOSAY AL NEMER, REUTERS
Aid is airdropped over Gaza City on 1er March.
“Air drops cannot and must not replace humanitarian access,” nevertheless warned the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC).
But cargoes by land, subject to the green light from Israel which has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2007, only arrive in very limited quantities via Rafah from Egypt.
And their transport, particularly in the north of the territory, is perilous due to fighting, Israeli bombings, rubble blocking roads and sometimes looting.
“We will insist that Israel facilitate the entry of more trucks […] There really isn’t enough aid coming to Gaza,” Joe Biden said.
Biden cautious
“The responsibilities for blocking aid are clearly Israeli,” said the head of French diplomacy, Stéphane Séjourné, speaking of “indefensible and unjustifiable situations for which the Israelis are accountable.”
“The famine adds to the horror,” he said in an interview published Saturday.
The same day, African Union head Moussa Faki Mahamat accused Israel of a “massive massacre of Palestinians” during Thursday’s tragedy and called for an international investigation.
Israeli military operations and shortages have brought the Palestinian health system to its knees. Ten children have died of “malnutrition and dehydration” in recent days, the Hamas Ministry of Health said Friday.
The tragedy in Gaza also dealt a blow to the efforts of mediators – Qatar, United States, Egypt – who are trying to reach a compromise on a truce associated with new releases of hostages.
Mr. Biden wanted to be cautious by repeating on Friday “hope” for a truce by Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims which begins this year on the evening of March 10 or the 11th.
“We’re going to get there, but we’re not there yet, and we might not get there,” he said.