Aid convoy deaths require independent investigation, U.N. chief says
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that the death of at least 100 people after Israeli forces fired on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza City, would require an effective independent investigation.
Speaking in St. Vincent at the Grenadines ahead of a regional summit, Guterres said he was “shocked” by the latest episode in the conflict in Gaza.
Responding to questions about the U.N. Security Council’s deadlock over the conflict in Gaza, Guterres said worsening geopolitical divides had “transformed the veto power into an effective instrument of paralysis of the action of the Security Council.”
“I am totally convinced that we need a humanitarian cease-fire, and we need the unconditional and immediate release of hostages and that we should have a Security Council able to achieve these objectives,” he said.
The Israeli military confirmed, including in an exclusive interview with NBC News, that its forces used live fire in one of what it said were two nearby incidents.
IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari later denied its forces had shot people seeking aid.
“We did not fire at the humanitarian convoy either from the air or from the ground,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Details of the incident remain unclear. However, a video obtained by Al Jazeera show a crowd appearing to flee and duck amid audible gunfire. NBC News has geolocated the video to the area surrounding Al-Rashid Steet, but was unable to verify the precise time the video was filmed that night.
IDF releases edited video clips of yesterday’s deadly aid truck incident
Drone footage released by the Israeli army shows what it says are Palestinians around a humanitarian convoy in Gaza City yesterday.
In the screen shot below, people are seen crowded around what appear to be aid trucks. The short, edited video clips did not show the events that caused the casualties.
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