Head of hospital treating some of wounded from aid melee says 80% were hit by gunfire

The head of a Gaza City hospital where some of the wounded from a deadly melee over an aid convoy had been taken claims that more than 80% had been hit by gunfire.

The remainder of the patients — 34 of 176 — were injured in a stampede triggered by the shooting, says Dr. Mohammed Salha, acting director of the Al-Awda Hospital.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, at least 112 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 were injured after huge crowds of desperate people raced to pull goods off an aid convoy Thursday. Those numbers have not been verified. Israel has said dozens were killed and injured.

Israel says many of the dead were trampled in a stampede linked to the chaos and that its troops only fired when they felt endangered by a crowd in a separate incident nearby. It has also noted that troops identified gunmen among those thronging the aid, suggesting that they could have been responsible for some of the deaths.

Salha says doctors at his hospital have been unable to operate on 20 seriously wounded patients from Thursday’s incident because of the lack of medicine, medical equipment and diesel for generators.

The hospital, like others in Gaza, has been suffering severe shortages since Israel declared war following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack, in which terrorists massacred 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 253. Vowing to destroy Hamas, which rules Gaza, Israel unleashed a blistering air and ground offensive.

Meanwhile, Israel’s COGAT military liaison to the Palestinians tweets that the IDF coordinated a UN convoy carrying a fuel tanker for Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.

This morning, a @UN convoy carrying a fuel tanker designated for the refuel of the Shifa Hospital made its way to northern Gaza Strip following coordination. pic.twitter.com/ALQP5jcqTL

— COGAT (@cogatonline) March 1, 2024