Israel says soldiers “fired precisely” on Gazans “who posed a threat,” but it denies firing at the aid caravan

The Israeli army stated on Friday that it had “fired precisely” at approaching suspects in its preliminary investigation into an incident that resulted in the deaths of over 100 Gazans as crowds stormed an aid truck.

International officials demanded a probe into the event on February 29, when the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas, said that Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians rushing to get food from a truck convoy.

At the time, the Israeli military claimed that hundreds of protesters had encircled the convoy, causing a “stampede”. The military claimed in a statement on Friday that the “command review” concluded that “troops did not fire at the humanitarian convoy.”

But it also said that they “did fire at a number of suspects who approached the nearby forces and posed a threat to them.”

In a revised toll released on Friday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 750 people were injured and 120 people had died in the event that happened on February 29.

Witnesses said that early that morning in Gaza City, hundreds of civilians had surged towards relief vehicles, and that troops had “fired at the crowd as people came too close to the tanks.”

A United Nations delegation that saw “a large number of gunshot wounds” among dozens of Palestinian patients at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital the day after the event reported this information.

In this screen grab from a video that the Israeli army posted on Thursday, February 29, 2024, assistance vehicles in northern Gaza are surrounded by Palestinians.
A Gaza doctor claims that 80% of the injuries from the slaughter during the relief convoy were caused by Israeli gunfire.
The military stated in a statement on Friday that around 12,000 Palestinians had crowded around the relief vehicles and started removing the items.

“During the course of the looting, incidents of significant harm to civilians occurred from the stampede and people being run over by the trucks,” according to the army.

At the moment, “dozens of Gazans advanced towards nearby IDF (Israeli army) troops, up to several metres (yards) from them, and thereby posed a real threat to the forces at that point,” added the statement.

According to the military, as the suspects persisted in their approach, “the troops fired precisely towards a number of suspects to remove the threat,” having previously “fired cautionary fire in order to distance the suspects.”

After more than five months of fighting the violent Hamas organization in Gaza, the statement was made.

More than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Hamas’ deadly onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, marking the start of the conflict, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli numbers.

About 250 Israeli and international prisoners were taken by Gaza militants during the raid; some of them were freed following a week-long ceasefire in November. Israel estimates that 31 hostages have perished and 99 captives are still alive in Gaza.

At least 30,878 individuals have died in the Palestinian territory as a result of Israel’s military’s onslaught in Gaza in response to the attack, the majority of them were women and children, according to the health ministry.