Pressure mounts for inquiry into Gaza aid convoy deaths
GAZA STRIP: Pressure mounted on Israel on Friday over the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid in an incident during which its soldiers fired at the crowd, with several countries backing a UN call for an inquiry.
Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces had killed more than 100 people trying to reach a relief convoy near Gaza City early on Thursday, with famine looming nearly five months into the war.
The incident has underscored the collapse of orderly aid deliveries in areas of Gaza occupied by Israeli forces with no administration in place and the main UN agency UNRWA hamstrung by an inquiry into alleged links with Hamas.
With the humanitarian situation in Gaza increasingly desperate, donors are considering delivering relief supplies from the sky, as the UN warns famine is “almost inevitable.” The amount of aid brought into the territory by truck has plummeted during nearly five months of war, and Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water and medicines.
With a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, many countries have urged a ceasefire, but US President Joe Biden said Thursday’s incident will complicate talks for a deal involving a truce and hostage release.
France and Germany have backed a call for an internationalinquiry.theushasalsourgedaninquiry. India said it was “deeply shocked” at the deaths and Brazil said the incident was beyond “ethical or legal limits.” South Africa, which has brought a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, condemned the deaths.
The foreign ministry of Qatar also condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous massacre commited by the Israeli occupation” and called for “urgent international action” to halt the fighting in Gaza.
Further afield, in South America, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the suspension of arms purchases from Israel ater the “genocide” in Gaza City.
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Friday that Egypt is hopeful that talks initiated by Qatar can agree a cessation of hostilities in Gaza before the start of the upcoming Holy Month of Ramadan.
“We are hopeful that we can reach a cessation of hostilities and exchange of hostages. Everyone recognizes that we have a time limit to be successful before the start of Ramadan,” Shoukry said at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.
French President Emmanuel Macron voiced “deep indignation” and the “strongest condemnation of these shootings.” Germany said “the Israeli army must fully explain how the mass panic and shooting could have happened.”
Israel’s closest ally, the United States, has also urged a thorough investigation, saying the incident shows the need for “expanded humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza.”
CALL FOR TRANSPARENCY: “The Israeli army must fully investigate how the mass panic and shooting could have happened,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on social media plaform X.
Her french counterpart step ha ne se jo ur ne said “there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened,” and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged Israel “to protect the people in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain facts and responsibilities.”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, also writing on X, said “every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency.”
The head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed Al Manfi, appealed for “an urgent investigation” by the United Nations Security Council into the “unprecedented crime.”
AID DELIVERY ROW: A humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, particularly the north, ater nearly five months of an Israeli air and ground campaign that has ruined swathes of the crowded coastal enclave and pushed it to the edge of famine.
With people eating animal feed and even cactuses to survive, and with medics saying children are dying in hospitals from malnutrition and dehydration, the UN has said it faces “overwhelming obstacles” geting in aid.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said obstacles included “crossing closures, restrictions on movement and communications, onerous veting procedures, unrest, damaged roads and unexploded ordnance.”
People in the Gaza Strip are risking their lives to find food, water and other supplies such is the level of hunger and despair amid the unrelenting Israeli assault, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.