Israeli Soldiers Fire on Gaza City Aid Crowd on Al-Rashid Road, UN Reports Gunshot Wounds

Aid convoy, rival accounts

Palestinian crowds rushed around aid trucks on al-Rashid Road in Gaza City before dawn on Thursday, and a witness told AFP that "The soldiers fired at the crowd as people came too close to the tanks." The Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry said 115 people were shot dead and more than 750 wounded, while an Israeli military official said there was an initial "stampede" involving thousands of people and that soldiers fired warning shots and then fired towards those who posed a threat. The Israeli army released aerial video that it said showed scores of Gazans surrounding aid trucks, and the footage raised questions because it had no sound and did not include what happened at the start or end of the incident.

A UN team that visited al-Shifa Hospital saw a "large number of gunshot wounds" among survivors, and Georgios Petropoulos of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the hospital was treating "more than 200 people" injured the previous day. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the incident resulted in "dozens of Gazans killed and injured," while Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said all the casualties were hit by "bullets and shrapnel from occupation forces."

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Gunfire, injuries, and edits

BBC Verify examined social media videos, satellite imagery, and IDF drone footage to piece together what happened around lorries delivering food aid northwards along al-Rashid Street outside Gaza City.

The BBC reported that at about 04:45 lorries in the convoy were surrounded by crowds as vehicles approached the Nabulsi roundabout, and it said the IDF's chief spokesperson Daniel Hagari described the moment as people surrounding trucks as they approached.

BBC Verify said it examined exclusive Al Jazeera video filmed close to a second location about half a kilometre south of the roundabout, where it heard "Volleys of gunfire" and saw people scrambling over lorries and ducking behind vehicles.

Dr Mohamed Salha, interim hospital manager at al-Awda hospital, told the BBC that the hospital received "around 176 injured people" and that 142 of those cases were bullet injuries.

The New York Times reported that Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said soldiers opened fire "only in face of danger when the mob moved in a manner which endangered them," and it added that the Israeli military released a heavily edited drone video that showed hundreds of people crowding around trucks along Al-Rashid Road.

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Condemnation and what comes next

International condemnation mounted after the aid convoy deaths, with France calling for an independent investigation and Stephane Sejourne saying, "We will ask for explanations, and there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened." China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing was "shocked" and strongly condemned the killing of civilians, while the Israeli government said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic crush for food aid. The White House said it was looking into what happened and described it as a "serious incident," and it said the event underscored the importance of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

Hamas rejected Israel's account and warned that the incident could jeopardize talks in Qatar aimed at a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages, while Philippe Lazzarini posted that neither UNRWA nor any other UN bodies were involved in the distribution. The incident also fed into broader aid pressure, with the BBC reporting that the UN was warning of a looming famine in northern Gaza where an estimated 300,000 people were living with little food or clean water, and with the UNRWA figure that just over 2,300 aid trucks entered Gaza in February, down about 50 percent compared with January.

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