The spectacle of parachutes dropping on Gaza with food supplies is emblematic of the growing difficulties facing Israel as it seeks to destroy Hamas. The aid has been provided by its greatest ally, the United States, whose government has evidently grown weary of trying to persuade Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to back down.

People watch as a US aircraft carrying food parcels flies above a beach in the Gaza Strip before dropping the humanitarian aid attached to parachutes.

The deaths of around 100 Palestinians at an aid post fired on by Israeli Defence Force troops appears to have hardened US opinion even though the IDF said most were killed in a stampede and not by their soldiers. These distinctions are increasingly problematic.

The airdrop, carried out jointly with Jordan, was more symbolic than transformational, delivering around 38,000 meals from three military planes. With hundreds of thousands of people said to be on the verge of starvation this is clearly nowhere near enough but it is intended to be a signal to Israel that America’s patience is wearing thin.

The expectation now is of an imminent Israeli agreement to a six-week ceasefire to allow further humanitarian aid to be brought in by land and sea to prevent a catastrophe. Briefings in Washington indicate this is almost a done deal with administration officials saying Israel had “more or less accepted” the terms. Hamas will agree to release a specified group of hostages taken on Oct 7, with the sick, the elderly and women given precedence. In exchange, Israel will set free jailed terrorist prisoners on a far greater pro rata basis, possibly 10 to one. This is similar to the last hostage release but this time hostilities are expected to be suspended for much longer.

Nothing is ever certain in the Middle East and this deal could yet collapse. Mediators reconvened in Cairo yesterday to meet delegations from both Hamas and Israel with “certain technical issues” still to be resolved. What is also still to be resolved is the fate of the Hamas leadership believed to be sheltering in the southern city of Khan Younis. Those demanding a ceasefire or a complete Israeli withdrawal must answer the key question – will they be allowed to survive and regroup to organise another atrocity like that seen on Oct 7?

Israel, on the other hand, cannot allow thousands to die of starvation in Gaza and risk losing the international support that followed the Oct 7 pogrom. If they are to agree to the terms for a six-week ceasefire, what are the Americans and most importantly other Arab nations proposing to do about neutralising the threat from Hamas?

Carnage at Gaza food aid site amid Israeli gunfire. Here’s what we know

Calls are growing for an investigation into one of the worst single tragedies to occur during Israel’s war with Hamas took, after scores of Palestinians were killed trying to access food aid in Gaza City on Thursday.

At least 112 people were killed and 760 injured in an incident where Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops used live fire as hungry and desperate Palestinian civilians were gathering around food aid trucks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. CNN is unable to independently confirm these numbers.

The incident took place amid a backdrop of vast hunger and dire poverty in the besieged enclave, where food aid has been so rare as to frequently elicit panic when it arrives.

But there are competing narratives surrounding the devastation that have been put forward by Israel and by eyewitnesses on the ground.

The United Nations has said an independent investigation is required to establish the facts, and nations including France have backed that call.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

The deaths occurred amid scenes of chaos on Haroun Al Rasheed Street in western Gaza City, where crowds of hungry Palestinians had gathered for food aid.

A convoy of at least 18 food trucks arrived at around 4.30 a.m. on Thursday morning, sent by countries in the region including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to eyewitnesses.

Civilians swarmed around the newly arrived aid trucks in the hope of getting food, and Israeli forces soon started shooting, witnesses said.

The aid trucks tried to escape the area, accidentally ramming others and causing further deaths and injuries, the eyewitnesses added to CNN. Ambulances struggled to reach those in need because rubble was blocking the way, one of those witnesses, Ahmad Abu Al Foul told CNN.

The majority of the casualties occurred as a result of people being rammed by aid trucks trying to escape Israeli fire, according to a local journalist in Gaza, Khader Al Za’anoun.

Al Za’anoun, who was at the scene and witnessed the incident, said that while there were large crowds waiting for food to be distributed from aid trucks, the chaos and confusion that led to people being hit by the trucks only started once Israeli soldiers opened fire.

“Most of the people that were killed were rammed by the aid trucks during the chaos and while trying to escape the Israeli gunfire,” Al Za’anoun said.

The United Nations on Friday said many of the Palestinian civilians injured during the carnage suffered gunshot wounds, citing a UN team that visited the hospital where survivors were taken.

UN Secretary General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a news conference that “from what they saw, in terms of the patients alive and getting treatment is that there is a large number of gunshot wounds.” The team did not have access to the dead bodies so could not determine if it was the same for those killed.

What is Israel saying?

Israel offered an evolving account of the incident as the day progressed.

In its first comments, the IDF said the incident began when Palestinians attempted to loot the trucks. “Early this morning, during the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the northern Gaza Strip, Gazan residents surrounded the trucks, and looted the supplies being delivered. During the incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling,” the IDF told CNN.

Later on Thursday, an Israeli military spokesperson claimed in a briefing that there were two separate incidents involving aid trucks in Gaza Thursday.

First, he said trucks entered northern Gaza and were rushed by crowds, with trucks running over people. Subsequently, he said, a group of Palestinians approached Israeli forces, who then opened fire on the Palestinians.

“The truckloads went into the north, then there was the stampede, and then afterwards, there was the event against our forces. That’s how things transpired this morning,” the spokesman said.

That timeline directly contradicts the eyewitness accounts, which suggested that the Israeli military opened fire on people near the trucks, causing drivers to pull away in panic.

In a briefing Thursday, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hargari denied there had been a strike on the convoy. He said that Israeli tanks had fired warning shots to disperse a crowd around an aid convoy in Gaza, after seeing that people were being trampled.

He insisted that the tanks were there “to secure the humanitarian corridor” so the aid convoy could reach its destination.

The IDF released a short video, which appears to show a tank driving parallel to the crowd, several meters away.

“As you can see in this video, the tanks that were there to secure the convoy sees the Gazans being trampled and cautiously tries to disperse the mob with a few warning shots,” Hagari said.

When the crowd started to grow and “things got out of hand,” the tank retreated to avoid harming Gazans, he added.

“I think, as a military man, they were backing up securely, risking their own lives, not shooting at the mob,” he said.

What is the humanitarian situation in Gaza?

More than a half a million people in Gaza are on the brink of famine, United Nations agencies warned on Tuesday, as the war in the enclave stretches towards the five-month mark.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at least 576,000 people across Gaza are “facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation.” Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned “of a real prospect of famine by May, with 500,000 people at risk if the threat is allowed to materialize.”

“Today, food aid is required by almost the entire population of 2.2 million people. Gaza is seeing the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world,” Carl Skau, WFP Deputy Executive Director, told the Security Council during its Tuesday session. “One child in every six under the age of 2 is acutely malnourished.”

Aid has been so sparse that, when available, it has often prompted panic. Jan Egeland, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, warned of chaotic scenes around aid trucks in Gaza, during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour earlier this week.

“The chaos, yes, around the aid line is becoming worse and worse because there’s so little aid coming in,” he said.

“Today, I’m pretty shaken actually from what I saw,” he went on. “The minute we crossed the border … you see the aid trucks going full speed down the road, being chased by gangs of youth who jumped the trucks and before our eyes, loot mattresses, blankets, food, et cetera, to the desperate people outside who want to get some aid.”

What has the international community said?

The US State Department expressed condolences for those killed and injured and said the US was pressing Israel for answers.

“Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed over the course of this conflict, not just today, but over the past nearly five months,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing.

“We have been in touch with the Israeli government since early this morning and understand that an investigation is underway,” he said.

Miller said the US is aware of “conflicting reports” about what happened and would only say the US knows that a commercial convoy not associated with the UN was delivering the aid.

“If there’s anything that the aerial footage of today’s incident makes clear, it is just how desperate the situation on the ground is,” said Miller, calling for Israel to “allow the entry of more assistance into Gaza, through as many points of access as possible, and to enable safe and secure distribution of that aid throughout Gaza.”

The UN has condemned the incident and said it must be investigated. UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was “appalled” by the growing death toll in Gaza and reiterated calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages in Gaza.

His spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement: “The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the besieged north where the United Nations has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week.”

Saudi Arabia also condemned the incident, calling on the international community “to take a firm stance by obliging Israel to respect international humanitarian law,” while the United Arab Emirates called for an “independent and transparent investigation.”

Colombia announced it would suspend the purchase of weapons from Israel following the deaths. “This is called genocide and is reminiscent of the Holocaust even if the world powers do not like to recognize it,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a post.

French Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Séjourné supported calls for a probe into what happened. Speaking to French radio station France Inter, Séjourné branded the events as “undefendable and injustifiable.”

The French Foreign Affairs ministry also released a statement on Thursday saying France was “waiting for all light to be shed on the acts mentioned, which are very serious.”

What this means for the war

Thursday’s tragedy represented one of the deadliest single incidents in Gaza since Israel’s war against Hamas began.

And it came at a critical time for the conflict, with negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a deal to pause fighting and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza reaching a potentially pivotal moment.

Hamas senior member Izzat Al-Risheq warned that the killing of people collecting aid from trucks in Gaza could lead to the failure of ongoing talks.

“Negotiations are not an open process,” he said in a statement published by the Hamas on Telegram.

“We will not allow for the pathway of the negotiations…[to become] a cover for the enemy’s continued crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip,” Al-Risheq said.

At the State Department briefing, Miller also said the incident indicated how necessary it was to reach “a potential temporary ceasefire as part of a hostage deal” to allow more aid in.

“We continue to work day and night to achieve that outcome, including through calls (President Joe Biden) held this morning with President Al Sisi of Egypt and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim, as well as one Secretary Blinken held earlier today with Qatari Prime Minister Al Thani,” Miller said.

“Every leader on those calls agreed that this terrible event underscores the urgency in bringing the hostage talks to a close.”

President Biden said Monday during an appearance at an ice cream shop in New York City that he hoped there would be a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict by “next Monday,” though officials from Israel, Hamas and Qatar – which is helping mediate negotiations – distanced themselves from that timeline.

Biden said Thursday “there are two competing versions of what happened” that his administration is looking into. When asked by CNN’s Arlette Saenz at the White House on Thursday if he worried the deaths would complicate negotiations, Biden responded: “Oh, I know it will.” But he still expressed optimism that a deal on the hostages and a potential ceasefire could be reached soon.

Israel Gaza: Large number of bullet wounds among those injured in aid convoy rush - UN

Palestinians wounded in the rush on the aid convoy resting at al-Shifa Hospital.

Many of the people treated for injuries following a rush on an aid convoy in Gaza on Thursday suffered bullet wounds, the UN has said.

UN observers visited Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital and saw some of the roughly 200 people still being treated.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, has accused Israel of firing at civilians, but Israel said there was a "stampede" after its troops fired warning shots.

Leaders from around the world have called for a full investigation.

The incident unfolded after hundreds of people descended on an aid convoy as it moved along a coastal road, accompanied by the Israeli military, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The World Food Programme has warned that a famine is imminent in northern Gaza, which has received very little aid in recent weeks, and where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water.

In footage from the scene, volleys of gunfire can be heard and people are seen scrambling over lorries and ducking behind the vehicles.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has said that at least 112 people were killed in the incident and another 760 were injured.

In a statement on social media, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said, "Dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling."

The IDF's Lt Col Peter Lerner also told the UK's Channel 4 News that a "mob stormed the convoy" and that Israeli troops "cautiously [tried] to disperse the mob with a few warning shots".

Mark Regev, special adviser to the Israeli prime minister, had earlier told CNN that Israel had not been involved directly in any way and that the gunfire had come from "Palestinian armed groups", though he did not provide evidence.

Giorgios Petropoulos, head of the Gaza sub-office of the UN Co-ordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the BBC he and a team sent to al-Shifa hospital found a large number of people with bullet wounds.

He said all but a handful of the 70 to 80 patients in the emergency room he visited had been injured during the convoy incident.

In addition to those with bullet wounds, he said doctors had treated many who had fallen down or been trampled - but he was unable to say with certainty which group was larger.

Mr Petropoulos said those with bullet injuries had suffered wounds in the upper and lower body. One patient told him he had been shot in the chest and who had walked to Shifa to get treatment.

"He said they (Israeli troops) usually shoot in the air. This time, they shot into the thickest part of the crowd," Mr Petropoulos said.

But, Mr Petropoulos emphasised UN personnel had not been present during the incident making it very difficult to know precisely what happened.

Dr Mohamed Salha, interim hospital manager at al-Awda hospital, previously told the BBC that they had received 176 of the injured, of whom 142 had bullet wounds.

He added that the others had suffered broken limbs.

Responding to the incident, UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron called the deaths "horrific" and said there "must be an urgent investigation and accountability".

"This must not happen again," he said.

He added that the incident could not be separated from the "inadequate aid supplies" entering Gaza and called the current levels "simply unacceptable".

US President Joe Biden announced that the US would begin dropping aid into Gaza by air, saying: "Innocent people got caught in a terrible war, unable to feed their families. We need to do more, and the United States will do more."

Israel military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and others - after its gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October and took 253 back to Gaza as hostages.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 30,000 people, including 21,000 children and women, have been killed in Gaza since then with some 7,000 missing and at least 70,450 injured.

Hamas accuses Israel of targeting a Kuwaiti aid truck

Palestinian children wait to receive a portion of food at a make-shift charity kitchen in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday, March 2, 2024. 

Hamas accused Israel of targeting a Kuwaiti aid truck on Sunday as the humanitarian crisis from the war in Gaza continues to grow.

The Palestinian militia, considered to be a terrorist group by Israel and the United States as well as their allies, said on Telegram and reviewed by UPI that the aid truck was attacked in the city of Deir al-Balah, leading to an unspecified number of deaths of Palestinians.

Hamas said that the attack "is an affirmation" of Israel and its "war of genocide and ethnic cleansing," blasting Israeli forces for "systematic starvation" and depriving Palestinians of aid. The militia said Israel's attack is in "complete disregard" for the decision of the International Court of Justice.

"The continued occupation by targeting aid and relief convoys expresses an unprecedented level of criminality and brutality in our contemporary history," Hamas said in its statement.

The attack was also addressed by Hamas' Gaza Health Ministry, which indicated that dozens of people were killed or injured.

"The Israeli occupation forces carry out systematic genocide crimes targeting hundreds of thousands of hungry bellies in northern Gaza," the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Gaza's government media office said in a statement on Telegram, reviewed by Al Jazeera, that around 2.4 million people are suffering from food shortages.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that Israeli forces are continuing a siege targeting the organization's Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.

"This has led to a catastrophic deterioration in the conditions," the PRCS said, adding that food supplies and fuel are expected to run out in a week, and other supplies, as the IDF continues shelling around the hospital. "Remaining drinking water is only enough for three days. The accumulation of waste has led to the spread of some infectious diseases among the displaced."

So far, Israeli forces have killed at least 30,410 Palestinians and injured another 71,700 people since the latest iteration of the conflict broke out in October.