On Thursday morning, last week, Palestinian civilians in the north of Gaza were desperately waiting for bags of flour, after living in starvation and turning to eating leaves in order to survive, when they were indiscriminately fired upon by Israeli soldiers and tanks. The massacre resulted in at least 118 deaths and 750 injuries.
The infamous mass murder of malnourished civilians who gathered to collect food aid, after over a month of surviving without it, known now as the Flour Massacre, was unfortunately not the first attack on civilians waiting for aid and came as children in Northern Gaza began to starve to death.
One of the most clear cut and targeted civilian massacres that has occurred in Gaza since October sparked momentary outrage once again last week. As thousands gathered in Nabulsi Square, near Gaza City, waiting for the delivery of desperately needed food aid, Israeli forces that were positioned in the area indiscriminately opened fire on the crowd of starving Palestinians.
The videos collected from the scene, in addition to testimonies that were taken from survivors in two separate hospitals — the Kamal Adwan and Al-Shifa hospitals — confirmed that Israeli forces had indeed fired on Palestinian civilians and caused the massacre. Yet, Israeli spokesmen instantly went into damage control mode and began to concoct at least three contradicting narratives, all of which absolved their military of any responsibility. The Israeli army also released drone footage, which it claims shows Palestinians swarming aid trucks and provoking drivers to run them over, yet an investigation by the BBC proved that the footage was manipulated.
In two notable failures of Israel’s poorly coordinated campaign of lies about the Flour Massacre: Eylon Levy first reacted to the reports by asserting that “IDF forces *did not* shoot at the convoy“, before quickly deleting the post on X after realizing his government’s narrative had changed; this, as Mark Regev tried to say that Israeli soldiers had nothing to do with the massacre and was caught live on air by CNN’s Christian Amanpour, after the network’s presenter pointed out that the Israeli military spokesperson before him had admitted that Israeli forces opened fire.
Video available at source link below.
When Israeli forces again opened fire on Palestinian civilians who were waiting for aid in the same location the following day, the incident did not receive the kind of attention as the ‘Flour Massacre’ and no official position on the event was released by the Israeli army. Again, on Monday, in the Kuwait roundabout area, Israeli occupation forces opened fire on helpless Palestinians who were waiting for food aid near Gaza City, this incident resulted in a number of casualties but went relatively underreported. Yet, the events of the last week are not the only incidents of Israeli forces firing on Palestinians waiting for aid, in fact, a Palestinian man was shot dead and 10 others were injured on February 20. Dozens of other instances of Palestinians being fired upon while waiting for aid have been recorded during the war.
What is new, however, is the now daily cases of children and infants starving to death in northern Gaza. At least 15 children have reportedly starved to death in northern Gaza, with a 10-year-old child, named Yazan al-Kafarneh, having also starved to death in the Yousef Najjar medical facility in southern Gaza’s Rafah. Back on December 9, human rights group Save The Children issued a warning that the leading cause of death in Gaza could be due to starvation. Just over a week ago experts at the UN declared that over half a million Palestinians are now facing starvation and declared there to be a “looming famine“; while all 2.3 million people in Gaza are facing an acute food shortage.
For reference, below are the current list of statistics that have so far been issued by the health authorities in Gaza, as per day 150 of the war:
- 2,675 separate massacres have been committed by the Israeli army.
- 37,534 killed and registered missing persons (assumed dead).
- 30,534 killed who arrived at hospitals, including 13,430 children and 8,900 women.
- 364 medical workers killed.
- 48 Civil Defense workers killed.
- 132 journalists killed.
- 7,000+ people unaccounted for, 70% of whom are children and women.
- 71,920 registered injuries.
- 17,000 children now living without their parents or one of them.
- 11,000 are wounded and urgently need to travel for life-saving treatment.
- 10,000 cancer patients face the risk of death.
- 700,000 people are said to have contracted infectious diseases as a result of their displacement.
- 8,000 confirmed cases of viral hepatitis infection, due to conditions faced under displacement.
- 60,000 pregnant women are at risk due to lack of access to health care.
- 350,000 chronically ill patients are at risk due to non-administration of medications.
- 269 cases of arrest against health personnel.
- 10 cases of arrest of journalists whose names are known.
- 2 million displaced people in the Gaza Strip.
- 163 government headquarters destroyed by Israeli air and/or ground attacks.
- 100 schools and universities were completely destroyed by Israel.
- 305 schools and universities partially destroyed by Israeli forces.
- 217 Mosques were completely destroyed, while 8 mosques were partially destroyed by Israeli forces.
- 3 churches were targeted and destroyed by Israel.
- 70,000 housing units were completely destroyed, while 290,000 housing units were partially destroyed by the Israeli military and are uninhabitable.
- 70,000 tons of explosives estimated to have been dropped on Gaza.
- 32 hospitals were taken out of service by Israel’s bombings and ground attacks, while 53 health centers have been rendered non-operational.
- 155 health institutions also targeted by Israeli ground forces and bombing attacks.
- 126 ambulances were hit by the Israeli military.
- 200 archaeological and heritage sites were also destroyed.
Source, Source
The above mentioned statistics have been released separately elsewhere, but are rarely reported together and serve as a damning indictment of the criminal nature of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its people. As horrifying as these figures are, the people of Gaza are now facing the real threat of famine and the wider spread of infectious diseases, which could easily end up taking the lives of many more people than the direct attacks of the Israeli military. This is why the need for an immediate introduction of sufficient aid is paramount.
Prior to the events of October 7th, around 500 aid trucks would cross into the Gaza Strip everyday, which were not even considered enough to properly serve the needs of the population at that time, with many considered food insecure. Since the beginning of Israel’s attack on Gaza, no more than 200 aid trucks have entered the besieged coastal territory in a single day, with a lot of days seeing no entrance of aid, or the introduction of less than 100 aid trucks. Air drops, which are costly and sometimes dangerous, provide less aid than regular truck loads and do not provide sufficient support for the suffering population of Gaza, particularly in northern Gaza where aid has been scarce since Israel’s ground incursion some four months ago.