World Leaders React to Deaths of Gazans Waiting For Aid

World leaders are putting pressure on Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid to Gaza, with some turning to their own efforts to do so, after at least 110 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured trying to get aid this week, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Witnesses said Israeli troops fired on the crowd as people rushed to take food aid off trucks in Gaza City on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. This was echoed by Hamas on its Telegram channel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “thousands of Gazans” had “descended upon the trucks” with some “violently pushing and even trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies” resulting in “dozens of Gazans killed and injured.” The IDF said its troops fired warning shots in a bid to disperse the crowds.

A doctor at a nearby hospital told the AP that more than 80% of the injured victims he treated were struck by gunfire. He couldn’t speak to the cause of deaths, as the bodies were taken to other hospitals.

The incident comes after the World Food Programme announced it had stopped food deliveries to north Gaza on Feb. 20 because it was too unsafe, even though needs are more acute than ever.

Earlier this week, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reported that more than 30,000 people, most women and children, have been killed by Israel’s military assault in response to Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7. Others are at risk of starvation, with the U.N. reporting Friday that 10 children have been officially registered in hospitals as having starved to death.

Israel’s humanitarian aid arm COGAT said on X (formerly Twitter) after the incident that Israel Defense Forces “will continue to assist in the transfer and coordination of humanitarian aid.”

Here’s what world leaders have said in the wake of the incident.