The following is a compilation of information about the cold blooded massacre of more than 100 people who had gathered in northern Gaza to receive a long awaited delivery of food aid which has been referred to as the “Gaza Flour Massacre.”
Please watch RT’s brief report on Odysee by clicking on the image below. It includes a clip of the Israeli aerial footage regarding the horrific assault on starving Palestinians who were on the ground in the early morning of Thursday, February 29th in order to obtain critical food and aid when they were targeted by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).
RT: Over 100 killed, another 760 injured in Gaza as crowd gathers to receive food
Below is a full video clip of the Israeli aerial footage via Rafeef Garbi on Twitter/X.
The following article by senior editor of The Electronic Intifada, Maureen Clare Murphy, provides more information about the brutal massacre of starving Palestinians of all ages.
Palestinians mourn after 112 people were killed when Israeli forces fired on people attempting to access food aid in Gaza City on 29 February. Malik AtallahXinhua
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said that 112 Palestinians were killed and another 760 injured after Israeli forces opened fire toward Palestinians who had gathered to receive food aid in Gaza City on Thursday.
The incident – dubbed the Flour Bag Massacre – is one of the deadliest in the past bloody four and a half months in Gaza, with the death toll climbing past 30,000 on Thursday. The actual number of fatalities since 7 October is likely significantly higher, with thousands of people missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings, and others succumbing to disease, starvation and thirst.
An engineered famine has taken hold in Gaza, with people resorting to eating wild plants with little nutritional value and animal feed to survive.
“It’s been all suffering, it’s been all horror,” Abubaker Abed, speaking from Gaza, told The Electronic Intifada livestream on Wednesday:
Hundreds of babies are born in Gaza each day, and their parents can’t find formula or afford diapers for their newborns, as Abed reported in a recent story for The Electronic Intifada.
Abed, who is immunocompromised, said that he has eaten meat probably only once since 7 October and the lack of access to the nutrition he needs has caused him to be repeatedly sick. The lack of clean water results in regular stomach pain.
With a meal typically consisting of just a piece of bread and a tomato, Abed said that he is relatively fortunate. One in four people in Gaza currently “faces catastrophic levels of food insecurity,” according to the United Nations.
Aid not reaching the north
Hunger is particularly acute in the bombed-out northern half of Gaza, including Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain after Israel ordered the forced displacement of people from the area months earlier.
Palestinians in the north of Gaza are now starving as Israel has prevented the UN from delivering aid there for more than a month.
Seven children have died from starvation and dehydration at Kamal Adwan hospital in the north, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.
Life essentials and humanitarian aid are being used as weapons of war in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, with Israel announcing on 9 October that it had cut off the supply of fuel, electricity, water and food to the territory. Only very limited amounts of aid have been allowed into Gaza since then, far less than what is needed to meet the needs of the now mostly displaced population.
The food aid massacre in Gaza City is a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and fully goes against the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures” ordering Israel to halt genocidal actions, Petra De Sutter, a deputy prime minister in Belgium, said on Thursday.
The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that at around 4:30 am on Thursday, Israeli tanks shelled “a crowd of thousands of hungry civilians who had been waiting hours for aid trucks to arrive.”
The rights group has documented previous cases in which Israeli troops opened fire toward and killed people awaiting aid.
On Thursday, according to Euro-Med Monitor, “after the aid trucks arrived, Palestinian civilians were targeted by Israeli shelling and shooting.”
“Numerous people fell from the trucks while attempting to take a bag of flour,” the group said, “and many others were targeted while carrying a carton of canned goods or a bag of flour to feed their starving family members.”
Ismail al-Ghoul, a reporter with Al Jazeera, said that after opening fire on them, Israeli tanks ran over dead and injured people and that ambulances were unable to reach the scene because the roads are “totally destroyed.”
Many of the injured were brought to al-Shifa hospital, which is only partly functional after being raided by Israeli forces last November. With a shortage of medical staff, citizens were “left to deal with the injured and attempt to administer first aid themselves,” according to Euro-Med Monitor.
Jadallah al-Shafei, a department head at al-Shifa hospital, said that “the majority of the victims suffered gunshots and shrapnel in the head and upper parts of their bodies.”
Al-Shafei added that “they were hit by direct artillery shelling, drone missiles and gun firing.”
Videos documenting the incident show people running as shots ring out, with an Israeli tank positioned nearby. At least one victim appears to have been shot in his upper torso.
“Our children are starving”
Daniel Hagari, the chief Israeli military spokesperson, said during a press conference on Thursday night that the trucks were part of a convoy carrying aid from Egypt that was screened at the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing “and then entered Gaza for distribution by private contractors.”
He claimed that tanks were present to “secure the humanitarian corridor for the aid convoy” and that troops “cautiously tried to disperse” people he described as “a mob” who rushed the trucks “with a few warning shots.”
Hagari attempted to deflect responsibility by saying that the tank commander “decided to retreat to avoid harm to the thousands of Gazans that were there” and claimed that no Israeli military strike “was conducted toward the aid convoy.”
He claimed that similar aid operations took place the previous four nights without incident.
The massacre was applauded by Israeli Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and celebrated on popular Hebrew-language Telegram channels. A majority of Jewish Israelis oppose the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In a statement published on its Telegram channel, Hamas rejected the Israeli spokesperson’s claims as baseless lies intended “to cover up this heinous crime and to evade widespread international condemnation.”
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, accused Israel of carrying out a premeditated massacre.
It is not clear who sent the aid trucks, with some people saying that it was a trap.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that Palestinians in the area “received phone calls from the Israeli army in recent days ordering them to evacuate to the central and southern parts of the Strip in order to receive food and water and avoid starvation.”
Yusri al-Ghoul, a Palestinian novelist and eyewitness to the massacre, told Al Jazeera that “there were no international or any local institutions that said that they sent aid” to Gaza City on Thursday.
He said that every day, people gather in the area near the Israeli tanks in anticipation of aid deliveries.
“We are starving, we don’t find food, even the food of animals, for about two months,” al-Ghoul said. “Our children are starving.”
“While children die from lack of food, their parents are killed trying to get it for them,” Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Palestine director, said on Thursday.
“We need a definitive ceasefire immediately,” Lee said, echoing the longstanding call from humanitarian actors operating in Gaza.
I recommend listening to the following relatively brief interview with Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International.
Donatella says Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged under international law to cater to the needs of the population it occupies. She stressed that Israel controls what goes into Gaza by way of food, medical supplies and humanitarian aid.
“Those restrictions have increased exponentially since October 7,” Rovera told Al Jazeera, pointing to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since 2007.
“There is concrete evidence that contradicts whatever statements are being made by the Israeli authorities” on the killing of 117 Palestinians while collecting food aid on February 29, she said.
Israel on Sunday denied its military was responsible for the deaths, which triggered global condemnation and calls for an independent inquiry.
The purported finding is against the video evidence, witness accounts and accounts of the Palestinian officials, who said the victims were attacked by Israeli troops while waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City.
UN officials said on Saturday that many of those wounded near the aid convoy sustained bullet injuries.
Rovera also reminded that the Israeli authorities prevent human rights officers and journalists from entering Gaza to carry out independent investigations.
As you are likely aware, the Flour Massacre was certainly not the first time the IOF have opened fire on the starving civilians in Gaza whilst they gather to obtain food. This short video was taken in Gaza City, February 26, 2024: “Israel's army opens fire at thousands of starving people in the southwest of Gaza City as they were attempting to get food.”
The following statement was published Sunday, March 3rd by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
Palestinian territory - Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor confirmed that its initial investigations into the flour massacre at the “Nabulsi” roundabout southwest of Gaza City against Palestinian civilians who were attempting to receive humanitarian aid at dawn on Thursday confirm Israel’s full involvement in the crime, calling for an effective international investigation to hold Israeli officials accountable.
During a press conference held in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Euro-Med shared the findings of its initial investigation into the incident and the testimonies of the victims amid the Israeli army’s attempts to distance itself from the incident by arguing that the victims' deaths were due to a stampede.
At the conference, Euro-Med researcher Muhammad Qariqa said that the Geneva-based organisation’s field team - which was present at the time of the incident - documented Israeli tanks firing heavily towards Palestinian civilians while trying to receive humanitarian aid at the “Nabulsi” roundabout.
He explained that the Israeli attack left 115 civilians killed and 760 others injured, while many victims are believed to remain in the targeted area.
Qariqi highlighted that the Euro-Med findings demonstrate that dozens of victims suffered gunshot wounds, rather than being run over or crushed, in contrast to what the Israeli army spokesman claimed.
He further highlighted four pieces of evidence confirming the Israeli army’s involvement in killing and wounding starving civilians. The first of which is the signs of injuries on the bodies of the dead and injured. The second piece of evidence is the footage released by the Israeli army itself, which includes audible evidence of gunfire emanating from Israeli tanks positioned near the coast, in addition to the aerial video published by the Israeli army, which is intentionally fragmented and distorted. At minute 1:06, however, the video footage does indicate the existence of at least two Israeli tanks, as well as multiple bodies, in the path of the tanks rather than the aid trucks.
He also pointed to the bullets’ distinct sound signature, which is audible in the footage released at the time of the shooting, and identified them as coming from an automatic weapon used by the Israeli army with 5.56 bullets.
For his part, Dr. Jadallah Al-Shafi’i, head of the nursing department at Al-Shifa Hospital, said during the conference that paramedics and rescue workers were among the victims of Israeli shooting at civilians who had gathered at the “Nabulsi” roundabout to receive food supplies.
Al-Shafi’i stated that they observed dozens of dead and injured upon their arrival to Al-Shifa Hospital, hit by Israeli gunfire. He also emphasised that all relevant documentation, including x-rays and medical reports, is accessible to the media, human rights groups, or investigative committees.
Dr. Amjad Aliwa, an emergency specialist at Al-Shifa Hospital, narrated during the conference that he was present with doctors and nurses along with thousands of civilians at the “Nabulsi” roundabout waiting for humanitarian supplies to arrive in light of the spread of famine and people suffering from the lack of the minimum necessities of life.
At the conference, Dr. Amjad Aliwa, an emergency specialist at Al-Shifa Hospital, said that he and other doctors, and nurses were at the "Nabulsi" roundabout along with thousands of civilians waiting for humanitarian supplies to arrive in light of widespread famine and lack of basic necessities for survival.
According to Aliwa, the Israeli army opened heavy fire on everyone waiting to receive aid as soon as the trucks arrived on Thursday at 4 a.m.
What happened at the Nabulsi roundabout constituted a horrifying massacre, Aliwa said, stressing that it was difficult to recover many of the wounded, whose fate is still unknown.
Euro-Med Monitor warned that the Israeli shooting of starving Palestinian civilians receiving aid has become a regular practice. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have directly attacked and killed dozens of people in Gaza City, including on Salah al-Din Street and in the vicinity of Kuwait Roundabout.
The image below posted by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor provides the most recent verified statistics of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as of Sunday, 3 March 2024.
There absolutely must be a ceasefire now. If the US continues to veto Ceasefire Motions and the UK abstains, in my lay opinion they should both be charged with being complicit in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes of genocide.
This must stop. Israel cannot be allowed to put itself above international law and continue to blatantly commit genocide against Gaza.