World leaders called on Friday for an independent inquiry after Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians at a food aid distribution site in northern Gaza, killing more than 100 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The calls came as President Joe Biden said that the US would start to deliver relief supplies from the air into the enclave. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. Click here for more on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
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President Joe Biden said on Friday the US military would drop humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip in the coming days, and that Washington would be doing everything it could to get more aid into the enclave.
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French President Emmanuel Macron called for "truth, justice and respect for international law" on Friday after at least 112 Palestinians were killed and at least 750 wounded during an aid delivery on Thursday in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was “deeply disturbed by images from Gaza” and said “every effort must be made to investigate what happened” during the deadly incident in the north of the enclave.
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Biden said the incident would complicate delicate ceasefire negotiations in the almost five-month-old war, Spain condemned an “unacceptable” incident and Turkey accused Israel of committing "another crime against humanity”.
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At least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 wounded in Israeli strikes, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, since Israel's war on Gaza began on October 7. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
- At least 112 people were killed and at least 750 wounded as Palestinians gathered at an aid distribution point in northern Gaza on Thursday, the health ministry in Gaza said.
- Israel said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic stampede for the food aid and that its troops only fired when they felt endangered by the crowd.
- The Gaza health ministry earlier said that Israeli soldiers had opened fire on those gathered.
- France said on Thursday the shooting of Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery in northern Gaza was "unjustifiable" and all light had to be shed on the incident.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the deadly incident on Thursday "in which more than 100 people were reportedly killed or injured while seeking life-saving aid", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
- New Zealand on Thursday listed Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist entity and imposed travel bans on "extremist" Israeli settlers for committing violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)
