JERUSALEM, Israel – More than 100 Palestinians are reported dead following an early morning stampede Thursday surrounding humanitarian aid trucks in north Gaza. Meanwhile, Israelis mourned the death of two people from a terrorist attack at a gas station in a Jewish community north of Jerusalem.
The White House labeled the deadly Gaza stampede caught on camera by Israeli military drones “tremendously alarming,” and called for an investigation.
It appears most who died were crushed by a crowd rushing the trucks or were run down as those trucks began to flee the mob scene.
Several Gazans were apparently shot as a large crowd charged toward Israeli soldiers nearby.
A U.S. aid official immediately criticized Israel.
Samantha Power, of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said, “Desperate civilians trying to feed their starving families should not be shot at.”
However, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari asserted, “Thousands of Gazans dispensed upon the trucks. Some began violently pushing and even trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies.”
Hagari claims that in the midst of much chaos, shots fired by IDF soldiers were meant only to disperse an angry mob and were never aimed at stopping the aid reaching Gazans.
“No IDF
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN