Global condemnation flowed on Friday after Israeli forces in war-ravaged Gaza opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident which the health ministry said killed more than 100 people.
The Foreign Affairs expressed the Sultanate of Oman’s condemnation and strong denunciation of the brutal attack by which the Israeli occupation forces targeted unarmed Palestinian citizens who were waiting to receive food supplies in the north of Gaza, which resulted in the death of dozens of martyrs and the injury of many civilians.
The Ministry said that these systematic criminal acts by the occupation forces are a clear violation of all international and humanitarian norms and laws, and are nothing but a continuation of the policy of extermination pursued by the Israeli occupation forces toward the Palestinian people, whose lives have been narrowed due to the barbarism of the occupation forces.
The Sultanate of Oman called on the international community to intervene urgently and decisively to put an end to the tragic humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and to hold the occupying state fully responsible for its targeting of civilians and civilian facilities
The Israeli military said a "stampede" occurred when thousands of desperate Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over by the lorries. An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it "posed a threat".
Gaza's health ministry called it a "massacre" and said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded. French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on social media platform X, expressed his "strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice, and respect for international law".
Iran denounced "the barbaric attack by the Zionist regime", China said it was "shocked", and the head of the Arab League said the "brutal" act showed "total contempt for human life".
US President Joe Biden said Washington was checking "two competing versions" of the incident which occurred early Thursday in northern Gaza, where famine threatens after nearly five months of war between Israel and Hamas.
A US State Department spokesman said aerial footage of the incident made clear "just how desperate the situation on the ground is". Washington was pushing Israel to allow in more aid, he said. The deaths came after the World Food Programme's deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council on Tuesday:
"If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza."
- Famine warning
- While the situation is particularly acute in Gaza's north, Gazans are struggling for food, water, and medical care throughout the territory including in far-south Rafah where around 1.4 million people have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Israel is threatening to send in troops against Hamas fighters in Rafah. The war began on October 7 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen Friday declared herself "deeply disturbed by images from Gaza," where Hamas authorities say 112 Palestinians were killed after Israeli troops opened fire during an aid delivery. "Every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency," the European Commission president posted on X.
The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell earlier denounced the incident as a "carnage."
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