Israeli tanks fired warning shots to disperse a crowd around an aid convoy in Gaza on Thursday, after seeing that people in the crowd were being trampled, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed at a briefing.
The IDF has provided a conflicting account to that of eyewitnesses throughout the day.
In an update late Thursday, Hagari insisted that the tanks were at the site “to secure the humanitarian corridor” so the aid convoy could reach its destination.
The IDF released a short video, which appears to show a tank driving parallel to the crowd, several meters away.
“As you can see in this video, the tanks that were there to secure the convoy sees the Gazans being trampled and cautiously tries to disperse the mob with a few warning shots,” Hagari said.
When the crowd started to grow and “things got out of hand,” the tank retreated to avoid harming Gazans, and was “not shooting at the mob,” he added.
For context: Witnesses said civilians had gathered around the aid trucks in the hope of getting food — as the enclave is on the brink of famine — and Israeli forces soon started shooting.
The aid trucks tried to escape the area, accidentally ramming others and causing further deaths and injuries, the eyewitnesses told CNN.
The majority of the casualties occurred as a result of people being rammed by aid trucks trying to escape Israeli fire, according to a local journalist in Gaza who was at the scene. He said the chaos and confusion that led to people being hit by the trucks only started once Israeli soldiers opened fire.
Source link: https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-02-29-24/index.html