The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has debunked Hamas’ claim that it “targeted a gathering of thousands of [Palestinian] citizens while they were waiting to receive food aid.”
The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled directly by the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist group — claimed that more than 100 people were killed and more than 700 were injured during the incident, which they have portrayed as an unprompted act of aggression by Israel.
There has been no confirmation of the numbers claimed by Hamas, and the terror group has repeatedly lied throughout the course of the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the incident that unfolded on Thursday occurred during the fourth night in a row that Israel brought in convoy trucks directly to the people of Gaza.
“Our initial review has confirmed that no strike was carried out by the IDF towards the aid convoy,” he said. “The majority of Palestinians were killed or injured as a result of the stampede.”
The IDF released drone footage showing thousands of Palestinians running to the trucks to grab what supplies they could.
Israel’s initial review of the incident found that the IDF fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse the stampede. Stampedes throughout history have proven to be deadly occurrences, with numerous stampedes across the world resulting in the deaths of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people.
“After our forces had started retreating, several looters approached our forces and posed an immediate threat to them,” he said. “According to the initial review, the soldiers responded towards several individuals.”
The IDF said it was committed to following all international laws of war and would further investigate the incident to develop strategies that would help “reduce the risk of such a tragic incident from occurring again during one of our humanitarian operations.”
“The incident will be examined in the Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism: an independent, professional, and expert body,” he added. “For the sake of transparency, we will share updates as our examination develops, hopefully in the coming days.”
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Hagari repeatedly stated that Israel’s war was not with the people of Gaza, only Hamas, which is why Israel is “facilitating aid; creating humanitarian corridors; establishing unilateral humanitarian pauses; and exercising caution in our use of force.”
Aerial footage today's incident in Gaza, where dozens of people reportedly died during op to bring humanitarian aid.
Although the media has reflexively jumped to condemn Israel, you can see the crowd hurt by extreme pushing and trampling, while also clearly endangering the IDF. pic.twitter.com/dik9VhQt6x
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) February 29, 2024
Israel’s ongoing campaign to wipe out Hamas was prompted by the attack on October 7, 2023, in which thousands of Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel and murdered 1,200 people, injured 5,300+, kidnapped hundreds, and unleashed a violent campaign of assault and rape against girls and women.