South Africa flays Israel over massacre of Palestinians awaiting aid
Palestinians wounded in an Israeli attack while waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City are treated at al-Shifa Hospital [Mahmoud Essa/AP]
The South African government says the killing of Palestinians awaiting aid in Gaza violated the World Court’s provisional orders in a legal case in which Pretoria has accused Israel of committing genocide in the war-ravaged enclave.
“South Africa condemns the massacre of 112 Palestinians and the injury of hundreds more as they sought life-saving aid,” South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.
“This latest atrocity is another breach of international law and in breach of the binding provisional orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).”
No fewer than 112 people were killed and more than 750 wounded in the attack, which occurred at the Nabulsi roundabout in Gaza City on Thursday, leading to condemnations from the international community.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, denounced the incident, which resulted in the greatest number of civilian casualties in recent weeks, calling it a “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army on people who waited for aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout.”
The European Commission head, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed her dismay at the photos from Gaza on Friday, saying that “every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency.”
Josep Borrell, the senior ambassador for the European Union, had earlier called the incident “carnage” in a post on X.
So far, 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 attacks stands at 1,139.
