104 Central Palestinians Waiting For Help In Gaza Killed By Israeli Troop Shots

Israeli Snipers in the Gaza Strip. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - Health authorities in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that Israeli troops' fire on people awaiting aid near Gaza City had killed 104 Palestinians and injured 280 others.

Civilians flocked around newly arrived aid trucks hoping to get food, as Israeli tanks and drones began shooting at people on Haroun Al Rasheed Street in the west of Gaza City, in the Sheikh Ajleen area, quoted from CNN February 29.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the incident occurred in the al-Nabusi roundabout west of Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave.

The medical team was unable to cope with the volume and severity of injuries from dozens of injured people who arrived at al-Shifa hospitals, Qidra said.

Meanwhile, Head of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza City, Hussam Abu Safieyah, said his party had received 10 bodies and dozens of patients were injured as a result of an incident west of the city.

"We don't know how many are in other hospitals," Safieyah said by telephone.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office said he "condemned the poor massacres carried out by Israeli occupation soldiers this morning against people waiting for aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout".

Separately, an Israeli military spokesman said there was no information about the shooting at the site. The military later said dozens of people were injured by pushing and stepping on when aid trucks arrived in northern Gaza.

"There is no information regarding Israeli shootings in the area," an Israeli military spokesman said.

Meanwhile, an Israeli source said soldiers opened fire at "several people" among the crowds that were a threat to them.

An Israeli official told CNN the IDF forces did use sharp fire on people around the aid trucks as "the crowd approached the troops in a manner that posed a threat to the troops, responding to the threat by direct fire.

"This morning, when a humanitarian aid truck entered the northern Gaza Strip, Gazans surrounded the truck, and looted supplies that were being sent. In that incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of being pushed and trampled on," the IDF told CNN, adding the incident was being investigated.