UN chief condemns deadly Gaza aid delivery incident

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns the deadly aid delivery incident in northern Gaza, in which the Hamas terror group says over 100 people were killed, his spokesperson says. Israel disputes the events and says its forces did not fire at people seeking aid.

“The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the besieged north where the United Nations has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric says in a statement, adding that Guterres was “appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict.”

Hamas blamed the IDF for the deaths. The military said most of the casualties were caused by a stampede and being run over by the supply vehicles. Gunmen also opened fire in the area as they looted the supplies.

The army said it did not fire at the crowd rushing the main aid convoy. It acknowledged that troops opened fire on several Gazans who moved toward soldiers and a tank at an IDF checkpoint, endangering soldiers, after they had rushed the last truck in the convoy further south.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said the death toll reached 104, with hundreds more injured. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier called the incident an “ugly massacre” of “people who waited for aid trucks.”

Saudi Arabia also condemned “the harm to civilians in the northern Gaza Strip, which resulted in the death of dozens and the injury of hundreds,” according to a statement by its Foreign Ministry cited by Hebrew media reports.