TEHRAN - Israel has been committing acts of genocide, massacres, war crimes and crimes against humanity with impunity in the Gaza Strip since launching war on the besieged Palestinian territory nearly five months ago.

The latest Israeli massacre took place on Thursday at a neighborhood in the southwest of Gaza City where a group of trucks carrying desperately needed aid arrived. Israeli forces opened fire on hungry people who were waiting in the area for a delivery of food, including flour, from the trucks. 

They killed more than 100 Palestinians and injured hundreds of others. 

Reports suggest they were hit by direct Israeli artillery shelling, drone missiles and gunshots.

According to Al Jazeera, after opening fire, Israeli tanks advanced and ran over many of the dead and injured bodies. 

The Israeli regime confirmed its troops fired on the Palestinian civilians. But without providing any evidence, the Israeli military claimed that the Palestinians posed a threat to its forces and they responded by opening fire. It also claimed that many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic crush for food aid. 

Heinous massacre

Reacting to Thursday's crime, the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said, “The killing of this large number of innocent civilian victims who risked their livelihood is an integral part of the genocidal war committed by the occupation government against our people.” 

It added that Israeli authorities bear full responsibility for the “heinous massacre” and will be held accountable before international courts. 

The Palestinian UN ambassador implicitly blasted the U.S. for vetoing Security Council resolutions. 

 “It’s not like firing in the sky to restrain people if there was confusion and chaos. It was intentionally targeting and killing. This outrageous massacre is a testimony to the fact that as long as the Security Council is paralyzed and vetoes cast, it is costing the Palestinian people their lives,” Riyad Mansour said. 

Hamas also called the tragic event a “heinous massacre”. In a statement, the resistance movement noted that the deadly attack on the Palestinians was “unprecedented in the history of war crimes” and was part of Israel’s “war of starvation” against Gazans. 

International outcry

Officials from across the globe have also denounced the Israeli massacre in the Gaza City neighborhood. 

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry slammed the “deliberate killings” of civilians who were seeking humanitarian aid. 

The ministry said the Israeli attack was "part of a broader policy aimed at starving and collectively exterminating the Palestinian people.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Israel of perpetrating "another crime against humanity", while Qatar called Thursday’s attack a “heinous massacre”. 

China also denounced the assault and expressed “shock”. 

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro described it as “genocide,” and announced that his government is suspending purchases of weapons from the Israeli regime. 

In Europe, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, “I am horrified by (the) news of yet another carnage among civilians in Gaza desperate for humanitarian aid…These deaths are totally unacceptable.”

France called the Israeli shooting of the Gazans “unjustifiable” and Germany demanded a probe.

Italy called on the regime to protect the Palestinian population after the “tragic deaths”.

The UN secretary-general urged an independent investigation, saying he is “appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict.”

Antonio Guterres, however, fell short of calling the Israeli attack on hungry Palestinians a massacre or blaming Israel for the carnage. 

U.S. duplicity 

Unsurprisingly, U.S. President Joe Bide refused to blame Israel for the killing of over 100 Palestinians who were awaiting humanitarian aid.  

His administration only expressed horror over the incident and vowed an investigation.  

“This latest event needs to be thoroughly investigated,” said White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton, adding, “This event underscores the need for… expanded humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza.”

The U.S. State Department spokesman offered condolences to the slain Palestinians. Matthew Miller said the U.S. had asked Israel to provide answers and ensure safe aid delivery.

Over the past weeks, Biden and his government officials have publicly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for pressing ahead with his deadly war on Gaza.

Biden’s criticism of Netanyahu is rooted in domestic backlash to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. He fears that growing discontent among Muslim and Arab American voters could cost him the 2024 presidential election. This is because they played a key role in helping Biden win the 2020 election. 

In action, however, the U.S. has spared no effort to help Israel politically and militarily. 

Since Israel launched the Gaza onslaught on October 7, the U.S. has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 

Washington also blocked a statement put forward by Algeria to the Security Council that would have assigned blame to the Israeli regime for Thursday’s massacre in the Gaza City neighborhood. 

The Palestinian UN envoy told reporters after an emergency closed council meeting on the tragedy that all of the council’s 15 members except the U.S. had supported the draft declaration. 

Explaining the decision to block the motion, the U.S ambassador said, “We don’t have all the facts on the ground – that’s the problem.”

Robert Wood said the U.S. is trying to verify the “circumstances around how people died” to see if “we can find some language that everyone can agree on”.

In terms of military support, the U.S. continues to provide Israel with weapons despite calls for attaching conditions to military assistance to the regime over its brutal war on Gaza. 

In the face of international condemnations of Thursday’s massacre, the White House called on House Republicans to pass a foreign aid bill to “help ensure that Israel can defend itself against Hamas and other threats”.

The U.S. has thrown its full weight behind Israel’s onslaught on Gaza —which has claimed the lives of more than 30,000 Palestinians — under the pretext of helping the regime “defend itself”. 

The Israeli massacre of the breadline in Gaza City and the U.S. complicity in the regime’s atrocities will definitely go down in history.