IDF statement on Aid Convoy Stampede

[Yellowducksandrakes]

What’s happened: Following the death of dozens of Palestinians after a stampede broke out around an aid convoy west of Gaza City, the US has blocked an Algerian-sponsored statement at the United Nations Security Council which sought to blame Israel.

• While reports conflict, it appears that:
• Before dawn yesterday morning, approximately 30 trucks containing aid entered the Gaza Strip to deliver food to the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
• At approximately 4.40 AM, thousands of Gazans swarmed the trucks. Drone footage of the event shows some of the trucks attempting to drive through the crowds, presumably in an effort to extract themselves and deliver the aid they were carrying.
• After a number of trucks were able to continue north, armed men opened fire on what remained of the convoy.
• While the IDF has admitted that its troops did open fire, it says that this was only “when they encountered danger, when the mob moved toward it in a manner that endangered the force”.
• The IDF also says that it “did not fire toward individuals seeking aid and we did not fire toward the humanitarian convoy from the ground nor from the air.”
• It is being reported that at least 112 Gazans were killed in this incident, with approximately 760 being injured. However, as these figures originate from within the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health, their veracity is questionable.
• The IDF’s initial inquiry into the incident has concluded its troops’ fire killed only 7 or 8 people and that the majority were killed in the chaos, not by shooting.
• “The tanks were there to provide security for the trucks. Our aircraft gave the troops on the ground a full picture from above,” the IDF said.
• “When the hundreds turned into thousands, the IDF complied with international law… Israel did not limit the quantity of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. We recognize the suffering of the Gaza residents.”
• In the aftermath of this event, much of the international community has reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire and increased aid being allowed into the Gaza Strip.
• At the United Nations Security Council, Algeria sought to issue a statement which explicitly blamed Israel for this deadly incident. While supported by 14 out of 15 council members, it was blocked by the US.
• When asked why the US had not supported this statement, Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood said: “We don’t have all the facts on the ground – that’s the problem.”
• He also said that in the face of contradictory reports, the US was trying to establish facts, including regarding the “circumstances around how people died”.
• President Biden has also discussed this incident with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to a White House statement, they agreed that it “underscored the urgency of bringing negotiations to a close as soon as possible”.
• The White House has also called for this event to be “thoroughly investigated”.

Context: Israel will conduct a thorough investigation into an incident which further highlights the complexity of distributing aid to the Gazan people and the urgent necessity of forming a civilian infrastructure to prevent further incidents of this kind.

@PeasfullPerson I thought we were discussing the delivery of aid.

Do I need to remind you that you pop up and pipe up on most threads too? I don't know why your opinion is anymore valid? Strange.

@ConnieCounter feel free to tootle off to another thread and engage there. As you have. Or is it just this one you have a moral issue with?

Do you not care that 15 children have died of malnutrition? I wonder how utterly painful and soul destroying it would be to die that way, and how utterly painful and soul destroying it would be for the people who care but can do nothing but watch as a child wastes away.

I've no problem with the thread, just the genocide deniers. For clarity.

I'm not sure it is actually okay to call fellow posters genocide deniers for having a differing view on culpability.

If genocide is too offensive, how about calling people who support the atrocities being carried out in Gaza as Anti-humanity.

If genocide is too offensive, how about calling people who support the atrocities being carried in Gaza as Anti-humanity.

Again - it's not about "supporting the atrocities", it's about differing in our views of who is culpable for the deaths, and also a refusal to see Israel as some cartoon baddy hellbent on blood and genocide. Apparently a failure to do so leads to name-calling and emotional blackmail.

I am thinking that I don’t think the thread title is ok.

When 80% of injuries and all the deaths were due to gunshot wounds, how is it ok to call it a “stampede” instead of “mass shooting”? (Stampede sounds more like tragically poor crowd control at a Taylor Swift concert or a football match)

Do you support the way Israel has conducted their response? Supporting their response is Anti-humanity.
Perhaps members of the Israeli government should stop acting like blood thirsty cartoon characters if they don’t want to be portrayed that way. Both with their words and their actions.

Perhaps members of the Israeli government should stop acting like blood thirsty cartoon characters if they don’t want to be portrayed that way. Both with their words and their actions.

Many people would agree with that, including many pro-Israeli zionists and Israeli citizens. They aren't good people.

I also wouldn't deny that the entire situation is a clusterfuck and a tragedy, but it is complex and nuanced and has been for decades. Yet much of the discussion on here is just Israel=Bad and a slew of propaganda and completely unverified social media links. If not going along with that makes me Ms Genocide then so be it I guess.

”rather than killing them”. There is no point letting aid in if they’re going to kill then when the Palestinians are trying to get the aid

@SomeCatFromJapan

You can’t write off the death figures or the widely documented level of systematic destruction and withholding of aid as propaganda.

I agree tho the op opened the thread in order to defend idf with the information that at the time idf was providing. I believe the info about the bullet wounds came after

@EasterIssland Those weren't my words, I was quoting a post and my reply was the link.

They were my words. Let the aid in rather than kill them. Israel has killed 100s in the last few days whilst they were delivering the aid. They should deliver the aid without killing people at the same time

@SomeCatFromJapan
”….slew of propaganda and completely unverified social media links. If not going along with that makes me Ms Genocide then so be it I guess.”

You went right along with the social media link to deliberately doctored unverifiable video purporting to show Hamas stealing aid without any hesitation.

On the other hand I haven't spent several months posting thousands of unverified links. When I post anything unverified I caveat it as such.

Also do you have evidence that it is deliberately doctored or is just something else that gets put out there and then accepted as fact?

Nah. The information about the bullet wounds was verified and published hours before the UNSC motion from Algeria was vetoed by the U.S. So the information was there, the OP chose to filter and exclude it.

Cohen’s versions of denial….

literal denial (it never happened) - we were never there.

interpretative denial (it’s not what you think it is) - we only shot to disperse them because they were causing a stampede. Hardly anyone was actually shot.

implicatory denial (we have to do it/it’s terrible, but it’s not our fault) - we had to shoot at them because they were behaving like savage animals.

@PeasfullPerson where have I literally done that?

Brutal mass murders.

Oh I see one of my comments has been deleted. So it appears it’s OK for people to liberally apply the term Antisemitic, or tell people they support Hamas if they don’t agree with the Israeli response, but if you say people who support the Israeli response support genocide then it gets deleted.

Commitment of genocide by Israel.
Weapons supplied by UK and USA.

@PeasfullPerson I didn't report your posts btw, I was happy enough to let them stand.

This whole thing is heartbreaking and it is time people stopped the childish mud-slinging and "taking sides". It is possible to deplore terrorism, the stealing of aid, attacking of drivers, using human shields, etc and also deplore bombarding and starving civilians, over use of force, etc
The rest of the world needs to push for peace and that will not be achieved by virtue-signalling marches in backwater towns or by keyboard warriors, only by serious international diplomacy
Channel 4 had a report on this convoy the other night in which their (IMO very brave Lindsey Hilsum) said what happened was exacerbated by people being desperate and starving, Hamas which is supposed to be the government being in hiding so not fulfilling that role and the Police having evaporated for fear of violence as they no longer have government to back them. Either way both Hamas and IDF are responsible
Unfortunately most of this cannot be discussed as people are so entrenched in their support of one side or the other