KEREM SHALOM, Israel — Israeli forces opened fire Thursday on a crowd of Palestinians who were hoping to get food from aid trucks in Gaza City. At least 112 people were killed and more than 769 injured, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military confirmed that its forces used live fire in one of what it said were two incidents, which came as the death toll in Gaza surpassed 30,000 and amid surging fears of starvation in the north of the territory. Israeli officials disputed the number of dead but did not say how many had died and said many had been killed by stampeding crowds or run over by aid trucks.
President Joe Biden said the loss of life would complicate talks aimed at securing a cease-fire and the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
“I know it will,” he told reporters on the White House lawn when he was asked about the incident, adding that the United States was still trying to determine what happened.
He added that the cease-fire deal he had hoped to have wrapped up by Monday would now “probably not” happen.
Biden’s comments came after a U.S. official confirmed to NBC News that his administration was considering airdropping aid into Gaza, following the lead of Jordan, which has already parachuted supplies into the enclave.
Israeli officials said many of the victims in Thursday’s incident had been run over by aid trucks, adding that the crowd posed a danger to the soldiers, although it did not say what this threat had been.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said two separate incidents had taken place.
Lerner said people “stampeded” the aid trucks after passing through an Israeli checkpoint into northern Gaza from the south, along the main coastal road. He said they had been surrounded by hundreds of people, some of whom had been trampled or “run over” in the confusion.
A second incident occurred a short distance away, Lerner said. People approached Israeli forces and this was “perceived [as] a threat on the ground,” he said. “They fired first warning shots in the air and then, as the people advancing did not turn away, they fired to remove the threat that they perceived at the time.”
The IDF was “currently looking into that incident,” he said. “We are in a war zone,” he added. “If you approach armed soldiers in a war zone and there is a threat and they fire warning shots into the air, the best thing to do is to turn around and walk away. If you continue to walk forward, then the perceived threat remains.”
During a press conference later in the day, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari denied allegations soldiers shot at those seeking aid during the incident. He said that commanders decided to retreat after the warning shots failed to scatter the crowd.
“We did not fire at the humanitarian convoy either from the air or from the ground,” Hagari said. “We secured the convoy so it could reach the north of the Gaza Strip.”
NBC News could not independently verify Hamas’ or Israel’s accounts of the incident, although video released by the IDF shows crowds surrounding trucks and then running away from them. It was unclear when the footage was taken.
The United Nations, which says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians now face starvation, has complained that Israel has blocked attempts to transfer aid into the enclave by restricting movement and communications.
The ongoing fighting combined with the breakdown of public order in Gaza have also hampered the delivery of supplies, as crowds of desperate people overwhelm aid convoys.
In a statement before the incident, the Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll had climbed to 30,035, with another 70,457 wounded since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
Those attacks killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the militants seized around 250 hostages; 123 of the hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in late November and several have been rescued by the Israeli military.
Israeli military officials said at least 242 soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.
Read More: More than 100 killed as Israeli troops open fire on Gazans crowded around aid