Videos, eyewitnesses reportedly bolster claims IDF behind deadly fire on aid-seeking Gazans

Eyewitness accounts, video testimony and expert analysis cited by separate US and Israeli news outlets reportedly bolster claims that Israeli forces shot at Gazan civilians seeking aid near Rafah earlier this week.

Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza reported that 31 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in the shooting incident in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, though the Israel Defense Forces has largely denied responsibility. The toll has not been verified, nor have the tolls of three and 27 killed, respectively, in similar reported incidents on Monday and Tuesday.

According to CNN, geolocated videos confirms that Sunday’s shooting took place at a roundabout nearly a kilometer from a Rafah aid distribution site operated by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an area under Israeli military control.

Though the videos do not show the source of the fire, the outlet also cites eyewitnesses who say the shooting emanated from guns mounted on Israeli tanks and experts who say the rate of gunfire heard in the clips and pictures of rounds taken from victims line up with weapons used by the IDF.

A separate report by Haaretz also cites eyewitness accounts and video pointing to Israel having carried out the shooting. The outlet quotes an unnamed military official saying that senior officers sought to lay down fire as a way to direct Gazans away from the military position and toward the aid site.

“The intention was to direct the population via fire,” the officer is quoted saying. “The army treated this like a regular situation of suspects entering a combat zone, but it’s impossible to direct a population at scales this large with fire if you want them to feel safe getting to areas you have opened.”