IDF probe: Palestinian gunmen killed Gazans waiting for aid, army did not fire

The Israel Defense Forces on Friday denied claims by the Hamas terror group that troops had opened fire on crowds of civilians waiting for aid at a square in Gaza City, saying that Israeli soldiers did not shoot at any stage during the incident and that Palestinian gunmen caused the casualties. The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip accused Israeli troops of opening fire from “tanks and helicopters” at the civilians gathered at Kuwait Square late Thursday, killing 21 people and wounding more than 150 others. The Israeli military said that after conducting an “intensive preliminary review,” it found that “the IDF did not open fire at the aid convoy at Kuwait Square.” “As aid trucks were entering [the corridor], the Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks,” the IDF said, adding that it also identified several civilians who had been run over by the trucks. “A review of our operational systems and IDF troops [on the ground] found that no tank shelling, airstrike or gunfire was carried out toward the Gazan crowd in the area of the aid convoy,” the military said. The IDF also issued aerial footage of what it said showed Palestinian gunmen opening fire amid the crowd during the first incident, an hour before the aid trucks had arrived.