RADM Daniel Hagari's statement on Humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
The IDF announced on Sunday its commitment to ensuring the continued flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, alongside conducting an independent investigation into a deadly crush around a humanitarian aid truck convoy last week that the Palestinians claimed killed over 100 people and sparked global condemnation.
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According to the IDF, Saturday’s aid airdrop operation, marking the first U.S. participation alongside Jordan, was conducted in coordination with the military.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari issued a statement to foreign media in English, disclosing that to date, the IDF has coordinated 21 aid airdrop operations in the northern Gaza Strip, in collaboration with Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
He assured that Israel would increase its humanitarian efforts in the Palestinian enclave, as the country faces allegations worldwide of deliberately blocking aid as a war tactic, claims which the IDF flatly denies. "We will continue expanding our humanitarian efforts to the civilian population in Gaza while we fulfill our goals of freeing our hostages from Hamas and freeing Gaza from Hamas,” Hagari said.
Hagari added that an initial investigation into last Thursday's chaos during the distribution of aid from trucks in northern Gaza showed that most of the victims died as a result of "pushing, trampling and being run over by the trucks" and not from IDF gunfire as claimed by Gaza's Hamas-controlled health authorities.
“As a professional military committed to international law, we are committed to examining our operations thoroughly. We have opened an inquiry to examine the incident further, which will help us reduce the risk of such a tragic incident from occurring again during one of our humanitarian operations," he said.
“The incident will be examined in the fact-finding and assessment mechanism – an independent, professional and expert body. For the sake of transparency, we will share updates as our examination develops, hopefully in the coming days,” Hagari added.
Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said in a statement: “Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. That is why we are facilitating aid; creating humanitarian corridors; establishing uni-lateral humanitarian pauses; and exercising caution in our use of force.”
“Israel and the international community are working together to enable the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza. We coordinated an airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza conducted by the U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force."
"We encourage all efforts to help alleviate the suffering of civilians in Gaza. We have coordinated a total of 21 airdrops with 450 packages in northern Gaza and Gaza in collaboration with France, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt and the United States," the statement added.
"We will continue expanding our humanitarian efforts to the civilian population in Gaza while we fulfill our goals of freeing our hostages from Hamas and freeing Gaza from Hamas."
The UN Security Council has expressed "deep concern" following the incident on Sunday. The Council members are troubled by reports of over 100 fatalities and several hundred injuries, some resulting from gunfire according to accounts by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The United States prevented a Security Council resolution last Thursday, blaming Israel for the violent incident. The Council members acknowledged Israel's investigation into the event and urged it to immediately probe the circumstances.
The entry of the aid convoy on Thursday, which resulted in the severe incident, was part of a new Israeli operation aimed at delivering essential supplies to Gaza residents with the involvement of local businesspeople, as reported by The New York Times, citing Israeli sources, Palestinian businesspeople, and Arab diplomats.
In a rare move, Israel was involved in planning the entry of at least four similar aid convoys to northern Gaza in the past week, after international aid organizations ceased their operations in the area. According to the Times report, the organizations claimed that Israel refused to grant permission for the passage of the convoys, leading to looting in the streets and the absence of "law and order." However, these efforts "backfired" on Thursday and led to the opposite outcome anticipated by the planners in Israel.
Two Arab diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity to the American newspaper, said that Israel's aid efforts were intended to fill the void left by the UN and other aid agencies. The IDF and the Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the report.