France has called for an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza who had gathered to receive humanitarian aid on Thursday, February 29, 2024.
Stéphane Séjourné, the Minister for Europe and foreign affairs, told a news agency, “We will ask for explanations, and there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened.”
He stated that France calls things “by their name.”
“This applies when we designate Hamas as a terrorist group, but we must also call things by their name when there are atrocities in Gaza,” he added.
Séjourné was reported as saying that his country would not apply “double standards,” and said that if an investigation should conclude that the Israeli shooting was a war crime, “then obviously this becomes a matter for the judiciary”.
Also, Lebanon’s foreign ministry iterated the call from France for an independent inquiry into the killing of the over 100 Palestinian aid seekers.
In a statement, it condemned Israel for what it said was the “deliberate killing of dozens of defenseless Palestinian civilians and the wounding of hundreds.”
It said that the events occurred “within the framework of the policy of starving and exterminating the Palestinian people en masse, which drives them to despair and adds fuel to the fire” and that they weakened “the chances of a just and comprehensive peace.”
It added that this “lowers the chances of a just and comprehensive peace” being achieved.
“The ministry also calls for the establishment of an international investigation committee to determine responsibilities and to prevent the party responsible for this crime from escaping accountability and punishment.”
Lebanese Foreign Ministry
Additionally, German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, demanded an explanation from Israel.
“People wanted relief supplies for themselves and their families and found themselves dead. The reports from Gaza shock me. The Israeli army must fully explain how the mass panic and shooting could have happened. My condolences go out to the families of the victims.”
Annalena Baerbock
Israel’s military denied shooting into large crowds of hungry people and said that most were killed in a crush or run over by trucks trying to escape.
A spokesperson stated that Israeli soldiers only fired at a small group that moved away from the trucks and threatened a checkpoint.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Ahmad, a trustee from the Ummah Welfare Trust, one of the organisations that delivered food aid to Gaza, disclosed in an interview, that the exact location of where food aid would be delivered in northern Gaza was shared with Israeli forces before the shooting that killed at least 112 Palestinians on Thursday.
“Our partners on the ground, who are in the south, liaised with the Israeli ministry that organises convoys in the north, and they had a plan in place. The trucks were moving together, and the location of the distribution was disclosed, and that’s [where] people were waiting all night.”
“Unfortunately, a moment which would have given us some happiness and relief that aid had reached those in need became a bloodbath.”
Muhammad Ahmad
Palestinian Foreign Ministry Calls For Sanctions On Israel
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel after the killing of more than 100 Palestinian aid seekers.
“The Ministry calls for imposing deterrent sanctions on the Israeli government to compel it to ensure the protection of civilians and secure their humanitarian needs,” it said in a press statement.
It also accused Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu of being a front for “fascist” Israeli Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in Gaza announced that at least 30,228 Palestinians have been killed and 71,377 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
It added that 193 of those were killed and 920 wounded in the last 24 hours.
US-based think thanks; Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) announced that Israeli military claims that it has killed more than 13,000 Palestinian fighters in Gaza since the start of its ground invasion likely still leaves Palestinian armed groups with a sizeable force as Hamas alone had 40,000 fighters before the war began in October.
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