France demands investigation after 112 Palestinians killed during aid delivery

France has called for an independent investigation into the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza who had gathered around aid trucks delivering food on Thursday.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said civilians had been “targeted by Israeli soldiers” and called for an immediate ceasefire.

“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,” he posted on X.

“The situation in Gaza is terrible. All civilian populations must be protected. A ceasefire must be implemented immediately to allow humanitarian aid to be distributed.”

Israel’s military has denied shooting into large crowds of hungry people and said most were killed in a crush or run over by trucks trying to escape. Soldiers only fired at a small group that moved away from the trucks and threatened a checkpoint, a spokesperson said.

The deaths of 112 desperate people seeking food for their families were “tremendously alarming”, the White House said. State department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters the US was “urgently seeking additional information on exactly what took place” and not all the facts were known. Washington would be “pressing for answers”, he said.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said that at a closed-door emergency session of the UN security council the US had blocked a resolution put forward by Algeria that said the deaths were “due to opening fire by Israel forces”. Of the council’s 15 members, “14 members supported the text”, Mansour said after the meeting.

He added: “This outrageous massacre is a testimony to the fact that as long as the security council is paralysed and vetoes [are cast], then it is costing the Palestinian people their lives.” Washington has three times blocked security council resolutions for a ceasefire in Gaza.

On Friday, Stéphane Séjourné, the French minister for Europe and foreign affairs, called for an “independent probe” into the deaths.

He told France Inter: “We will ask for explanations, and there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened. France calls things by their name. This applies when we designate Hamas as a terrorist group, but we must also call things by their name when there are atrocities in Gaza.”

If an investigation concluded that the Israeli shooting was a war crime, “then obviously this becomes a matter for the judiciary”, he said.

Spain’s foreign minister said the “unacceptable” events underline the “urgency of a ceasefire”, while the European Union foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, expressed horror at “yet another carnage among civilians in Gaza desperate for humanitarian aid”.

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned what it called the “targeting” of unarmed civilians, while Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also issued condemnations.

Qatar warned that Israel’s “disregard for Palestinian blood … [will] pave the way for an expanding cycle of violence”.

Gaza health officials said at least 112 people were killed and 280 injured after Israeli forces opened fire on an aid distribution point.

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

Thursday’s casualties added to a death toll in Gaza which the Hamas-run health ministry said had topped 30,000, mainly women and children.

The war began after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October that resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. About 250 people were taken hostage.