By Blessing Chinagorom
The United Kingdom has said there must be an urgent investigation and accountability over tragic incident in northern Gaza on Thursday, where more than 100 Palestinians are reported to have been killed and many more injured.
The Foreign Secretary, David Cameron in a statement who made this call while reacting to the unfortunate incident described it as horrible, adding that the world can’t separate what happened from the inadequate aid supplies.
According to him, “In February only half the number of trucks crossed into Gaza that did in January. This simply unacceptable. Israel has an obligation to ensure that significantly more humanitarian aid reaches the people of Gaza.
“We have identified a series of bottlenecks that need addressing: Israel must urgently open more crossings into Gaza; eliminate bureaucratic obstacles; enable aid operation in Gaza; ensure there’s robust de-confliction mechanism in place to protect ordinary Palestinians, NGOs, medics and others providing aid”, he added.
He noted that this tragedy only serves to underscore the importance of securing an immediate humanitarian pause. “A sustained pause in the fighting is the only way to get lifesaving aid in at the scale needed and free the hostages cruelly held by Hamas”, Cameron said.
It was reported that a strike early hour Thursday on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City killed at least 70 people, bringing the death toll since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to more than 30,000, health officials said.
The attack reportedly killed more than 70 Palestinians and wounded over 700, further straining Gaza City hospitals that are barely functioning after Israel’s monthlong bombing campaign and blockade, which has restricted the flow of fuel, medicine, and other necessities.
Hospital officials initially reported an Israeli strike on the crowd, but witnesses later said Israeli troops opened fire as people pulled flour and canned goods off of trucks.
Gaza City and the surrounding areas in the enclave’s north were the first targets of Israel’s air, sea and ground offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
The area has suffered widespread devastation and has been largely isolated during the conflict. Trucks carrying food reached northern Gaza this week, the first major aid delivery to the area in a month, officials said Wednesday.