Berlin and Paris join outcry over Israel’s role in Gaza convoy deaths

Germany and France on Friday expressed alarm at the deaths of dozens of Gazans seeking humanitarian aid as Israel faced an outcry over its troops opening fire close to an aid convoy.

Germany, which has been a staunch ally of Israel since its war with Hamas began in October, called for an explanation from the Israeli military and urged a humanitarian ceasefire in the conflict, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.

“People wanted relief supplies for themselves and their families and ended up dead,” foreign minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on social media site X.

“The reports from Gaza shock me. The Israeli army must fully explain how the mass panic and shooting could have happened.”

Israel said the deaths in Thursday’s incident were caused by a “stampede” among desperate Gazans seeking food, though it admits its forces fired “warning shots” near crowds.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers.

“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,” he said.

The incident took place early in the morning as a humanitarian aid convoy, under Israeli military protection, passed through a checkpoint from south to north Gaza.

Palestinian health officials and eyewitnesses claim that Israeli forces opened fire on hundreds of residents who rushed towards the trucks, leading to the deaths of over 100 people.

Israel has said a tank unit near the aid convoy fired warning shots at an oncoming crowd of thousands before retreating, and that “some began violently pushing and trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies”.

The Israeli military said the Thursday aid convoy was a private shipment from Egypt, which entered southern Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said that Israeli tanks and drones were in the area to secure the convoy. He added that the deaths were caused by a crush and by trucks running over people.

“Aid distribution inside Gaza is a problem,” he said.

Hamas decried the “hideous massacre” by Israel “against our Palestinian people” and demanded that Arab governments and the international community take urgent action.

The US on Thursday blocked an Algerian attempt at the UN Security Council to pass a resolution holding Israel solely responsible. The US deputy UN ambassador, Robert Wood, said: “The problem is that we don’t have all the facts here.”

The US earlier said it was looking into the incident. “We’re checking that out right now. There’s two competing versions of what happened. I don’t have an answer yet,” US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

He said he expected the deaths to affect negotiations towards a deal for a pause in fighting and the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

UN secretary-general António Guterres condemned the loss of life on Friday without naming Israel. “The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the north where the UN has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week,” he said.

Middle Eastern states that have diplomatic ties with Israel, including Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, also condemned Israel over the incident. The UAE foreign ministry on Thursday “strongly condemn[ed] the targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of a gathering of thousands of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip”.

Turkey called the incident a “crime against humanity”.

It remained unclear whether Hamas would pull out of talks towards a hostage deal being brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night said that it was “too early to say . . . whether in the coming days we will get another agreement”.

Some 1,200 Israelis were killed during the cross-border raid by Hamas that triggered the war, according to official figures. Israel’s five-month retaliatory offensive has reduced large areas of the enclave to rubble.

International officials have for months warned of a growing humanitarian disaster, including in recent weeks the abject lack of security for convoys attempting to disburse aid.

Acute food shortages have resulted in desperately hungry Gazans looting shipments, and roving criminal gangs attempting to seize aid for sale on the black market.

Northern Gaza in particular is cut off from the south by an Israeli military corridor and nearly depopulated apart from between 200,000 and 300,000 people, according to Israeli military estimates. Those who remain face near famine levels of hunger, say international aid groups.