- By Christy Cooney
- BBC News
58 minutes ago
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Palestinians were injured in the rush towards the aid convoy resting at Al-Shifa Hospital
Many of the people injured after a stampede on an aid convoy in Gaza on Thursday suffered gunshot wounds, according to the United Nations.
UN observers visited al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and saw some of the approximately 200 people still being treated.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, has accused Israel of shooting at civilians, but Israel said most died in a stampede after its troops fired warning shots.
Leaders around the world have called for a full investigation.
The incident came after hundreds of people, accompanied by the Israeli military, got into an aid convoy moving along a coastal road in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The World Food Program has warned that famine is looming in northern Gaza, where very little aid has been received in recent weeks and where an estimated 300,000 people live with little food and clean water.
Shots can be heard in footage from the crime scene and people can be seen climbing over trucks and ducking behind the vehicles.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 112 people were killed and another 760 injured in the incident.
In a statement on social media, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Danial Hagari said: “Dozens of Gaza residents were injured as a result of being pushed and trampled.”
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner also told Channel 4 News that a “mob stormed the convoy” and that Israeli troops acted “cautiously.” [tried] to disperse the mob with a few warning shots.”
Mark Regev, special adviser to the Israeli prime minister, previously told CNN that Israel was in no way directly involved and that the shooting came from “Palestinian armed groups,” although he did not provide any evidence.
On Friday, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. chief António Guterres, said a U.N. team visited Al-Shifa hospital the same day and saw “a large number of gunshot wounds” among survivors.
He said he was not aware that the team had examined the bodies of the people killed.
Dr. Mohamed Salha, interim hospital director of al-Awda Hospital, previously told the BBC that al-Awda had admitted 176 of the injured, 142 of whom had gunshot wounds.
He added that the others suffered broken limbs in the stampede.
Reacting to the incident, British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron called the deaths “horrific” and said there “needs an urgent investigation and accountability.”
“This must not happen again,” he said.
He added that the incident could not be separated from the “inadequate aid deliveries” in Gaza and described the current level as “simply unacceptable.”
US President Joe Biden announced the US would begin sending aid to Gaza by air, saying: “Innocent people were caught in a terrible war and unable to feed their families. We must do more, and the United States will do more.”
The Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas – which is banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, Britain and others – after its gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 and returned 253 hostages to Gaza .
Since then, more than 30,000 people, including 21,000 children and women, have been killed in Gaza, about 7,000 are missing and at least 70,450 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza.
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Watch: Devastation after dozens die during aid deliveries in Gaza