Initial investigations by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor confirm that Israeli army gunfire was responsible for most deaths in a massacre of Palestinian civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in western Gaza on Thursday.
The organisation’s research teams monitored the massacre from the very start and recorded Israeli tanks opening heavy fire on Palestinian civilians in the west and south of Gaza City, where 112 civilians were killed at Al-Rashid Street and 760 were injured. Many victims are still believed to remain in the targeted area.
Euro-Med says the Israeli army has denied accusations by releasing a fragmented aerial video clip that claims a large number of civilian deaths were due to a stampede or run over by lorries as starving Gazans rushed to the aid convoy.
However, Euro-Med Monitor stated that the evidence, which is supported by video footage, shows how dozens of victims suffered gunshot wounds, rather than being run over or crushed.
Evidence of gunfire as the main cause of fatalities, documented by a Euro-Med Monitor researcher upon the victims' arrival at Al-Shifa Hospital, includes signs of gunshot wounds on the bodies of the dead and injured, as well as blood spattered on flour bags and aid boxes.
More evidence includes audible evidence of gunfire coming from Israeli tanks positioned near the coast, as well as the bullets' distinct sound signature, which Euro-Med said the Israeli army had "purposefully" covered up in their video by using black overlays or audio manipulation.
The rights group also stated that the aerial video published by the Israeli army is intentionally fragmented and distorted. The footage indicates the existence of at least two Israeli tanks, with multiple bodies in the path of the tanks rather than the aid trucks.
Euro-Med says the army’s video clip also demonstrates Israel’s general culpability for the situation in north Gaza, as it reveals the extent of this Israeli-made humanitarian disaster and the crime of starvation that caused hordes of civilians to rush towards the aid trucks.
Israeli army forces and protesters within Israel are blocking vital aid like food, fuel, water, and medicine from reaching starving Palestinians.
Euro-Med Monitor had also warned that the Israeli shooting of starving Palestinian civilians trying to get aid has become a regular practice.
Israeli forces have reportedly attacked and killed dozens of people in Gaza City, including Salah al-Din Street, and in the vicinity of Kuwait Roundabout where aid is normally distributed.