Gaza, occupied East Jerusalem and Tunis, Tunisia – It has been five days since the Israeli army fired on a crowd of starving and starving people on al-Rashid Street in Gaza City, an incident that was dubbed the Flour Massacre.
However, for the families of the 118 civilians killed by Israel in the early hours of Thursday morning, this is the moment when their lives will forever be divided into before and after.
Thursday’s massacre was followed by two subsequent killings by Israeli forces of starving Palestinians rushing for help on Saturday and Monday night, adding to the growing death toll among thousands of people suffering from malnutrition and battling the first signs of famine.
When word got around that a convoy would arrive in Gaza City, thousands of people walked toward the camp in the street and waited for it on its planned route.
After weeks of blockade, hunger in Gaza was – and remains – so extreme that the convoy had to stop as thousands gathered, climbing the sides of the truck to try to salvage any amount of food. flour to bring back to their hungry families.
According to the Israeli army, the convoy contained 30 trucks – witnesses put the number at around 18 – ignored by several Israeli military vehicles, including tanks.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, as thousands of malnourished Palestinians tried to make their way to find food, soldiers opened fire.
According to Tel Aviv Tribune’s Ismail al-Ghoul, who was at the scene, the shooting came in two bursts, the first when people were grabbing goods and the second when the crowd was returning to the trucks.
“After opening fire, Israeli tanks advanced and crushed many corpses and wounded,” he said.
By the time the shooting subsided, dozens of people had been killed and hundreds injured.
Accounts of what prompted Israeli forces to fire vary, and Israel says many Palestinians died in the scramble for food, not because they were shot.
The testimonies of the thousands of Palestinians present on the scene are clearer: Israeli forces fired indiscriminately into the crowd, killing dozens of people and causing a stampede during which other people died.
