Gaza's Flour Massacre: "Flour mixed with blood"

A day after Israel’s attack on civilians in Gaza who were waiting for the arrival of food, a harrowing image of cruelty is emerging as reported by global media outlets.

The British BBC interviewed some of the survivors. Their accounts are appalling.

A number of Gazans said that they lived through “terrifying hours” at dawn on Thursday, when a bus loaded with humanitarian aid arrived in the Nabulsi roundabout area in the northern Gaza Strip, but Israeli forces “bombed” the citizens gathered in the place, according to a number of survivors.

Survivors of the bombing spoke to the BBC and described the difficult moments they went through while trying to retrieve the bodies of the dead for burial.

Acting Director of Al Awda Hospital, Dr. Muhammad Salha, told BBC Arabic that the hospital received 161 injured people on Thursday, while the dead were transferred to Kamal Adwan Governmental Hospital.

Regarding the types of injuries, Salha explained that there were injuries resulting from “firing gunshots” and injuries resulting from “firing missiles.”

He added, "The injuries were random in various parts of the body, such as the abdomen, hands, and chest."

He continued: "We performed a number of surgical operations on patients in the reception and emergency departments."

Al Awda Hospital is not qualified to receive this number of infections, according to what Dr. Muhammad Salha reported to the “Gaza Today” program, broadcast on BBC Arabic.

The hospital ran out of fuel a few days ago, and assistance operations were limited to providing life-saving services using “charging batteries to save one or two cases.” However, on Thursday, the hospital received more than 27 cases in need of life-saving services.

According to the acting director of Al Awda Hospital, the hospital's staff is working to find fuel to complete the surgical operations. He added, "We dealt with five surgical operations, four of which were orthopedic operations, including limb amputations and a general surgery."

Doctors at Al Awda Hospital have given priority to performing the most critical amputation operations, but 22 injured people are still waiting for operations, due to the exhaustion of the charged batteries.

  

Reactions from around the world:

France said that "the shooting by Israeli soldiers of civilians trying to obtain food" was "unjustified."

US President Joe Biden also expressed his concern that this incident would complicate the efforts of mediators seeking to reach a temporary ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, condemned what happened, saying that "desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent assistance, including those in the north, where the United Nations has not been able to deliver aid for more than a week."

United Nations Humanitarian Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths expressed his feeling of horror after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians while they were waiting to receive aid in the besieged Gaza Strip.

He added, "Even after nearly 5 months of brutal hostilities, there are still new shocks in Gaza."

 

He continued, "I am horrified by reports that hundreds of people were killed and injured while transporting aid supplies in Gaza City today."

 

 

As for European Commissioner for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, he condemned the "new massacre" and stressed that depriving people of food aid constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

 

“I am horrified by reports of another massacre among civilians in Gaza who are in dire need of humanitarian aid,” Borrell said on the X platform, adding that the deaths were “completely unacceptable.”

 

According to Borrell, "humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach Gaza without hindrance."

 

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie said that what happened in Gaza on Thursday is a nightmare, and that international aid must be sent to the Strip and those who will receive it must be protected.

 For his part, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez condemned what happened, saying on the X platform that “the unacceptable nature of what happened in Gaza, where dozens of Palestinian civilians are dying while waiting for food, confirms the urgent need for a ceasefire.”

 He added that "humanitarian aid must enter without obstacles," stressing "the need to respect international humanitarian law."

  For its part, Qatar condemned in the strongest terms Israel's perpetration of a "new massacre" in Gaza and demands urgent international action to end the aggression against the Gaza Strip immediately, according to a statement by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed, in a statement yesterday, that the continued brutal crimes of the occupation, as part of its brutal war on the Gaza Strip, prove day after day the urgent need for urgent international action to immediately end this unprecedented aggression in recent history, in preparation for addressing the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the Strip, Which threatens a real famine in northern Gaza as a result of the siege, bombing, and failure.

 

As for Saudi Arabia, it said in a statement by its Foreign Ministry that it expresses strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli targeting of the aid gathering, affirming the Kingdom’s categorical rejection of violations of international humanitarian law by any party and under any pretext.

 

In a statement to its Foreign Ministry, the UAE strongly condemned the Israeli targeting, and demanded an independent and transparent investigation and the punishment of those responsible, warning of the catastrophic humanitarian situation that is extremely sensitive and dangerous in Gaza.

 

In a statement by its Foreign Ministry, Kuwait described the Israeli targeting as a new crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces against a number of unarmed Palestinian civilians, expressing its condemnation of it.

 

The Sultanate of Oman expressed, in a statement by its Foreign Ministry, its strong condemnation and denunciation of the targeting itself, and considered it a brutal attack.

 In turn, Egypt condemned the aforementioned Israeli targeting, and considered it a shameful crime and a blatant violation, calling on the main international parties and the Security Council to cease fire, and bear the humanitarian, moral and legal responsibility to stop the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip, and provide protection for the Palestinian people.

 Both Jordan and Iraq also condemned the "brutal" Israeli targeting, and called on the international community to use all possible means to protect the Palestinian people, who are suffering from a serious humanitarian crisis.

 Despite the outrage, the UN Security Council failed to approve a statement holding the Israeli occupation entity responsible for the massacre committed by its forces on “Al-Rashid Street” in Gaza City, against Palestinians who were waiting for aid trucks to arrive. The Council had held a closed session, at the request of Algeria.