What we know so far about deadly aid truck incident in Gaza City
The Gaza health ministry says more than 100 Palestinians waiting for an aid delivery were killed and hundreds of others injured in Gaza, blaming Israeli forces.
The Israeli army has claimed at 4.40am the first aid truck in the humanitarian convoy made its way through a humanitarian corridor the IDF said it was securing on Al Rashid Road, west of Gaza City.
Israel Defence Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli tanks were there to secure the area, but during the operation a mob “ambushed the aid convoy bringing it to a halt”, and the IDF fired warning shots to “disperse the mob”, adding “no strike” was conducted towards the aid convoy.
While the situation continues to develop, using satellite images, videos released by the IDF, and footage shot from the ground, Sky News has pieced together a first indication of what happened.
Series of gun shots heard
Civilians were gathering to try to get food and medicine from aid truck deliveries – which in recent weeks have dramatically declined due to a collapse in security and difficulties coordinating their passage.
A video obtained by Al Jazeera shows a crowd appearing to flee and duck amid audible gunfire. It was filmed on a section of open ground just off Al Rashid Street, a further 200 metres northeast up the road.
The video is filmed outside in the dark – meaning it would have been taken before sunrise, which was around 6.10am local time.
Shouting can also be heard as people are seen climbing over what appears to be a vehicle as dozens hurry past the camera.
Aerial video indicates density of people gathered
The IDF released a series of monochrome aerial clips which show hundreds of people gathering towards trucks trying to receive food on Al Rashid Street. It is unclear exactly when the IDF footage was filmed.
The video shows an area adjacent to the intersection of Al Rashid Street and No 10 Street. Around 20 people in this clip appear to be not moving, and it’s not clear if they are dead, wounded or sheltering.
The second clip located was filmed just over 400 metres northeast along Al Rashid Street from the first. Also released by the IDF, it shows large crowds surrounding several trucks.
Together, the Al Jazeera and IDF videos were filmed over roughly 600 metres and show the events unfolded over a large area.
The location of this is notable due to its proximity to a newly established Israeli checkpoint and outpost, located around 400 metres south of the first video.
Bodies laying on vehicle
Aftermath video also located to the incident site where the IDF footage was filmed, shows a number of bodies lying on top of a vehicle.
Following the incident, medical teams said they were unable to cope with the volume and severity of the injuries, with dozens of wounded taken to the Al Shifa hospital – which is just under 4km from the incident site.
What has Hamas said?
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said at least 112 people were killed and several more injured during the aid delivery.
It claims the Gazans killed were fired on by the IDF.
What has Israel said?
Israel’s account of the incident is “not clear”, having given several “different versions of events”, Sky Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall said.
He said the incident happened in the early hours of the morning in darkness – adding to the confusion and difficulties trying to establish the truth of what happened.
In a five-minute statement on X, Mr Hagari said after the aid truck made its way through the humanitarian corridor at around 4.45am, “a mob ambushed the aid trucks, bringing the convoy to a halt”.
After seeing Gazans “being trampled” by the stampede, the IDF “tried cautiously to disperse the mob with a few warning shots in the air”.
“When hundreds [of Gazans] became thousands, the tank commander decided to retreat to avoid harm to the thousands of Gazans,” he said. “No IDF strike was conducted towards the aid convoy.”
This account contradicts earlier statements, however.
Initially, the IDF suggested a civilian truck driver had mown down Palestinians seeking aid during the stampede.
Separately “there was a suggestion that this was potentially Hamas stealing aid”, military analyst Sean Bell adds.
Kamel Abu Nahel went to the distribution point in the middle of the night, having heard there would be a delivery of food.
According to his eyewitness account, Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd as people pulled boxes of flour and canned goods off the trucks, causing them to scatter, with some hiding under cars.
After the shooting stopped, people went back to the trucks, and the soldiers opened fire again. He was shot in the leg and fell over, and then a truck ran over his leg as it sped off, he said, eventually seeking treatment at the Shifa Hospital.
What has been said elsewhere?
Thursday’s incident has drawn criticism from world leaders, who have demanded an investigation into what happened.
US President Joe Biden was asked if it complicated efforts for a ceasefire, to which he replied: “I know it will.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called for “justice and respect for international law” in a post on X.
Separately, the UN’s aid chief Martin Griffiths said he was “appalled” at the reported killings and injuries.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the incident on X, writing: “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.”
Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, also posted: “I am horrified by news of yet another carnage among civilians in Gaza desperate for humanitarian aid. These deaths are totally unacceptable. Depriving people of food aid constitutes a serious violation of IHL [International Humanitarian Law].”
Aid in Gaza
The incident comes as aid groups say it has become nearly impossible to deliver humanitarian assistance in most of Gaza because of the difficulty of co-ordinating with the Israeli military and ongoing hostilities.
They also point to the breakdown of public order, with crowds of desperate people overwhelming aid convoys.
The UN says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians face starvation, and around 80% have fled their homes.
Aid deliveries to northern Gaza have been rare and chaotic, passing through more active military zones to an area where the UN says many people are starving, with videos showing desperate crowds surging around supply trucks including the one below filmed this month.
UN and other relief agencies have complained that Israel has denied attempts they have made to transfer humanitarian aid to northern parts of the enclave, restricting movement and communications.
Israel has denied any restrictions on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and has said the UN is responsible for failures to deliver supplies.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
World
Putin not listed in Russian delegation for talks with Ukraine in Turkey and Trump also not attending
Vladimir Putin has not been listed in a Russian delegation expected to go to Turkey for talks on Thursday with Ukraine.
The Russian president signed an order on Wednesday detailing who would be in the delegation to Istanbul, including presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich, and deputy minister of defence Alexander Fomin.
On Sunday, Mr Putin had proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine to be held on Thursday “without any preconditions” and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the Russian president to meet him in Istanbul.
Donald Trump will not go to Turkey to join the Russia-Ukraine talks either, a US official said after Mr Putin announced the Russian delegation. The US president said he was “thinking” of going to Turkey if Mr Putin would be there.
Mr Zelenskyy had said he would attend, but only if Mr Putin also attended.
“I am waiting to see who will arrive from Russia and then I will determine what steps Ukraine should take. The signals in the media so far are unconvincing,” he said in his nightly video address earlier.
He said Mr Putin “continues to strike Ukraine”, adding: “In fact, it is now more obvious to the entire world than at any other point during the full-scale war… that the only obstacle to establishing peace is the lack of a clear will from Russia to do so.”
The proposed meeting came after the “coalition of the willing” countries, including Britain, threatened Russia with fresh sanctions if it failed to take part in a 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday.
Russia effectively rejected the proposal by instead calling for direct negotiations in Istanbul with Ukraine.
On Tuesday the Institute for the Study of War said Russia is “attempting to prolong negotiations to extract additional concessions from the United States and while making additional battlefield advances”.
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Canadians “weren’t impressed” by the decision of the UK government to offer Donald Trump an unprecedented second state visit to the UK, the country’s prime minister has told Sky News.
Sir Keir Starmer handed the invitation to the US president during a visit to the Oval Office.
The newly elected Liberal leader Mark Carney said that the invitation “cut across clear messages” that the Canadian government was trying to send to the White House in response to their threats against Canada’s sovereignty.
“I think, to be frank, they [Canadians] weren’t impressed by that gesture… given the circumstance. It was at a time when we were being quite clear about the issues around sovereignty.”
Explained: Who is Mark Carney?
Mark Carney speaking to Sky News’ Sam Washington
It comes as the Canadian prime minister has invited the King, who is Canada’s head of state, to open its parliament later this month in a “clear message of sovereignty”.
It is the first time the sovereign has carried out this function in nearly 50 years and Mr Carney says it’s “not coincidental”.
“All issues around Canada’s sovereignty have been accentuated by the president. So no, it’s not coincidental, but it is also a reaffirming moment for Canadians.”
The former Bank of England governor was re-elected after a campaign fought on the promise of standing up to American threats to Canadian statehood. He had refused to speak to Mr Trump until Canadian sovereignty was respected.
It followed Mr Trump threatening to make Canada the 51st state of the US.
Mr Carney justified making his first trip after winning re-election to the White House by stating Mr Trump had changed his intentions to annex Canada from an “expectation to a desire”.
“He was expressing a desire. He’d shifted from the expectation to a desire. He was also coming from a place where he recognised that that wasn’t going to happen.
“Does he still muse about it? Perhaps. Is it ever going to happen? No. Never.”
The high-stakes meeting in the Oval Office was not confrontational, with Mr Carney praising the president’s approach as “very on top of the essence of a wide range of issues” and “able to identify the points of maximum leverage, both in a specific situation but also in a geopolitical situation”.
A King’s tension between allies
Fractured geopolitical relations have produced an interesting phenomenon: two Commonwealth nations both deploying their head of state, King Charles, to manage the vagaries of Donald Trump.
For Canada, and its new prime minister, Mark Carney, the King is being unveiled at the opening of Parliament in Ottawa later this month as an unequivocal spectacle and symbol of sovereignty.
For the UK, Sir Keir Starmer is positioning the monarch as a bridge and has proffered a personal invitation from King Charles to the president for an unprecedented second state visit in order to facilitate negotiations over trade and tariffs.
This instrumentalisation of the crown, which ordinarily transcends politics, has created tension between the historically close allies.
Canadians view the UK’s red carpet treatment of a leader who is openly threatening their sovereignty as a violation of Commonwealth solidarity, while the British seem to have no compunction in engaging in high-level realpolitik.
The episode is emblematic of how pervasive disruptive American influence is and how extreme measures taken to combat it can aggravate even the most enduring alliances.
Since the meeting, tensions between the two countries have abated.
Further negotiations on trade and security are expected soon.
Given the deep economic integration of the two nations, neither side expects a deal imminently, but both sides concur that constructive talks have led to progress on an agreement.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
With greater goodwill between the two North American neighbours, Mr Carney also expressed optimism about Mr Trump’s efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.
The prime minister confirmed his view that the president was an “honest broker” and that his counterpart had been “helpful” in bringing momentum to a 30-day ceasefire between the warring nations.
Despite a reset in relations between the United States and Canada, Mr Carney remained circumspect.
His motto is: “Always plan for the worst.”
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And to that end, nothing is being taken for granted: “We do plan for having no deal, we do plan for trouble in the security relationship. We do plan for the global trading system not being reassembled: that’s the way to approach this president.”
World
‘Sixteen killed’ in strike on Gaza hospital as Israel says it hit ‘Hamas command centre below’
At least 16 people have been killed and 70 others were injured at a hospital in Gaza following an Israeli strike, according to the health ministry.
Nine missiles hit the European Hospital and its courtyard in the south of the Palestinian territory, officials said.
Israel said it had hit a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital in Khan Younis.
Hamas denies exploiting hospitals and civilian properties for military purposes.
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The scene after the European Hospital was partially damaged following Israeli airstrikes. Pic: Reuters
Earlier, a well-known Palestinian photojournalist died following a separate attack on the Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis, said the ministry.
Hassan Aslih had been accused by Israel of working with Hamas and was recovering from an earlier airstrike.
Aslih, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, was said by the Israelis to have recorded and uploaded footage of “looting, arson and murder” during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack into Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Aslih was one of two patients who died in Tuesday’s strike on Nasser Hospital, said the health ministry. Several others were wounded.
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih. Pic: Reuters
Dozens of people were being treated on the third floor of the hospital building, where the missiles struck, Reuters said, quoting Ahmed Siyyam, a member of Gaza’s emergency services.
The Israeli military said it “eliminated significant Hamas terrorists” in Nasser Hospital, among them Aslih, who it said had “operated under the guise of a journalist”.
Footage showed heavy damage to one of the hospital buildings, including to medical equipment and beds inside.
At least 160 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
Gazan officials accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists. Israel denies this and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians.
Aslih, who headed the Alam24 news outlet and had previously worked with Western news outlets, was recovering after being wounded last month in a deadly strike on a tent in the Nasser Hospital compound.
Read more:
Timeline: Key events of war in Gaza
Pope raises Gaza in Sunday message
Meanwhile, President Trump has spoken on the phone to Edan Alexander after he was released by Hamas on Monday, as part of ongoing efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire with Israel.
The 21-year-old was believed to be the last living American hostage in Gaza.
Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the 7 October attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s response has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of the coastal territory. Gaza’s health ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
An aid blockade since March has left the population at critical risk of famine, according to the World Health Organisation, which warned on Tuesday that hunger and malnutrition could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”.
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