Gaza aid deaths: UN chief says incident will require independent probe

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday (Feb 29) that the killing of more than 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in the war-torn Gaza Strip would require an effective independent investigation. Addressing an event in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Secretary-General Guterres said he was shocked by this latest episode in the Israel-Hamas war.

Responding to questions on the failure of a recent UN resolution seeking a ceasefire, Guterres said worsening geopolitical divides have "transformed the veto power into an effective instrument of paralysis of the action of the Security Council."

"I am totally convinced that we need a humanitarian ceasefire and we need the unconditional and immediate release of hostages and that we should have a Security Council able to achieve these objectives," he added.

What happened in Gaza?

On Thursday, health authorities in Gaza said that Israeli forces killed more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery. Citing Palestinian health officials, a report by the news agency Reuters said that at least 112 people were killed and over 280 were injured in the incident. The loss of civilian lives was the biggest in weeks since the conflict started on October 7 last year. 

Disputing the account provided by the Palestinian officials, the Israeli military blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.

Also read | Biden says firing on Gazans seeking food aid to ‘complicate’ ceasefire talks

The military said that a stampede occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the military had fired "a few warning shots" to try to disperse a crowd that had "ambushed" the aid trucks. Hagari added that when the crowd got too big the convoy tried to retreat and "the unfortunate incident resulted in dozens of Gazans killed and injured."

The condemnations

International leaders condemned Thursday's deaths in Gaza City. United States President Joe Biden said the incident would complicate ceasefire negotiations. On being asked about the carnage, President Biden said, "We're checking that right now. There are two competing versions of what happened, I don't have an answer yet."

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "strongest condemnation" of the incident. "Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers. I express my strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice, and respect for international law," President Macron said in a post on X. 

"The unacceptable nature of what happened in Gaza, with dozens of Palestinian civilians dead as they were waiting for food, underlines the urgency of a ceasefire," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.