What we know so far about deadly aid truck incident in Gaza City

Published

9 months ago

March 2, 2024

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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

At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

Published

2 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.

The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.

All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.

Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.

It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.

World

COP29: UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, warn leading figures

Published

4 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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COP29: UN climate summits 'no longer fit for purpose', warn leading figures

UN climate talks are “no longer fit for purpose” and should only be hosted by countries who are trying to give up fossil fuels, veterans of the process have said.

An open letter to the United Nations, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, made a dramatic intervention in the 29th COP climate summit, under way in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Frustration over petrostate hosts – following last year’s summit in UAE – as well as the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists, prohibitive costs, and slow progress have been mounting in recent years.

The letter acknowledges the strides COPs have made on ramping up climate policies.

“But it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose,” the authors said.

“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”

The letter’s 22 signatories also include former Ireland President Mary Robinson and Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN climate body (UNFCCC) that runs the annual COP summits.

It called for the process to be streamlined and for countries to be held accountable for their promises.

Sky News analysis has found only “marginal” progress has been made since the “historic” pledge from COP28 last year to transition away from fossil fuels.

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The letter also called for “strict eligibility criteria” for host countries to exclude those “who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy”.

This year’s host country, petrostate Azerbaijan, has been engulfed in controversy.

Its authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev used his opening address to criticise western hypocrisy and praise oil and gas as a “gift” from God. His criticism of France, with whom relations have long been tense, drove the French minister to cancel a trip to the summit.

While the government and its COP team run separate operations, host countries are supposed to smooth over disagreements and find consensus between the almost 200 countries gathered.

COP presidencies are also nominating themselves to be climate leaders and throwing their own countries under the spotlight.

Azerbaijan is a small developing country that relies significantly on oil and gas revenues. But it has made slow progress on building out clean power – getting just 1.5% of its energy from clean sources – and led a harsh crackdown on critics in the run up to the COP.

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, its lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev was unable to say whether Azerbaijan preferred to extract all its oil and gas or seek another, cleaner economic pathway – hard though that would be.

In a news conference yesterday, Mr Rafiyev said the president had been “quite clear” and he would not comment further.

“We have opened our doors to everybody,” he added.

Some diplomats here have hinted that Azerbaijan’s presidency team mean well but might be a little out of their depth. They have never been out in front at previous COPs, but they also only had a year to prepare for their turn hosting the mighty summit.

“My sense of this is that they’re a little underprepared, a little overwhelmed and a little bit short,” said one, speaking anonymously, as is customary for diplomats trying to maintain good relations.

“But I’m not sure that that’s politics. It might just be bandwidth and preparation and things like that.”

Different regions in the world take turns to host a COP. This year it was up to Eastern Europe, but the selection process took longer than usual due to tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and between Azerbaijan and rival Armenia.

Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme, called it “troubling” that some countries face questions over their host roles.

“Are there countries that are by definition good hosts and others are bad hosts?” he asked.

“In the United Nations, we maintain the principle of every nation, first of all, should have a right to be heard.

“Labels are not always the fairest way of describing a nation. Some of the largest oil producers have hosted this COP in the past, and seemingly this seemed to be a perfectly acceptable phenomenon.”

COP stands for “conference of the parties” and refers to countries (“parties”) who have signed the underlying climate treaty.

Azerbaijan’s COP29 team and the UN’s climate body have been contacted with a request to comment.

World

Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners

Published

20 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to 'smoke out' thousands of illegal miners

A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.

The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.

Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.

It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.

The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.

Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.

A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.

It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.

“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.

Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.

In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.

Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.

Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.

The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.

Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.

Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.