Israel accused of gunning down Palestinians waiting for aid

The Euro Med Human Rights Monitor – a youth-led non-profit based in Switzerland – said it has documented shocking testimonies of the Israeli army killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians on January 11.

Reports suggest that Israeli drones opened fire on Palestinians as they gathered to receive flour brought by UN aid trucks on a street recently destroyed by tanks.

They say 50 Palestinians were killed during the incident with many more injured as they awaited the trucks on Al-Rashid Street in the west of Gaza City.

One 27-year-old witness told Euro Med Human Rights Monitor: “My brother and I went with a number of neighbours to Al-Rashid Street

“After walking for five kilometres, we found people gathering and heading south, so we walked with them towards the road where the flour-carrying trucks were expected to arrive.

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“Suddenly, quadcopters appeared and started shooting at us randomly. I saw many people falling to the ground.

As soon as I felt the bullets next to me, I ran from the area. Later, I discovered that two of my neighbours were wounded.”

“We are really starving. Neither flour nor any other food items are present.

“A bag of flour that previously sold for roughly 40 shekels [about $10.8 USD] is now sold for more than 600 shekels [about $162 USD] if it is available, which is frequently not the case.”

While another added: “Out of nowhere, an Israeli army tank emerged from behind a mound of sand and opened fire at random.

“We were attacked by two quadcopters at the same time; I observed a pair of them. Everybody in front was hurt or killed.

Damage to a home in Rafah, Gaza following an Israeli airstrike (Image: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)

“In a matter of seconds, at least 50 people were killed and numerous others injured. We took off running, through destroyed stores, down smaller streets between the houses on Al-Rashid Street, and anywhere else we thought would be safe from gunfire.

“Around 11:30am, I came back along with some others. When we spotted the trucks, we took off running in their direction. There were four trucks full of medicines, canned goods, and flour. People descended on the trucks while they were still moving, and some of them fell.

“I saw two people falling under a truck’s tires and being run over...if there was an order for distributing flour it would have been better, [given] the chaos and death we are living in.”

Euro-Med Monitor said it holds the UN and its humanitarian agencies accountable for their inability to provide adequate aid to Palestinians in need.

It comes after the war between Israel and Hamas entered its 100th day on January 14, with around 24,000 people in Gaza losing their lives so far - including 89 journalists.