NNA -nbsp;Israeli forces in war-torn Gaza opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians at an aid distribution point Thursday, killing at least 104 people and wounding over 700 according to Palestinian health officials.
Israeli sources confirmed that troops shot at the crowd, believing they quot;posed a threatquot;, in the pre-dawn incident in Gaza City in the north of the besieged territory.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza condemned what it labelled a quot;massacrequot; and said it had claimed at least 104 lives and left 760 people wounded.
A witness told AFP that the violence unfolded when thousands of people desperate for food rushed towards aid trucks at the city#39;s western Nabulsi roundabout.
quot;Trucks full of aid came too close to some army tanks that were in the area and the crowd, thousands of people, just stormed the trucks,quot; the witness said, declining to be named for safety reasons.
quot;The soldiers fired at the crowd as people came too close to the tanks.quot;
The Israeli army initially said that quot;during the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the northern Gaza Strip, Gazan residents surrounded the trucks and looted the supplies being deliveredquot;.
It added that quot;during the incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling. The incident is under review.quot;
Later an Israeli source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity, that quot;the crowd approached the forces in a manner that posed a threat to the troops, who responded to the threat with live firequot;.
As the dead and wounded were taken to several of Gaza#39;s few functioning hospitals, health officials reported a steadily rising death toll.
quot;Medical teams are unable to deal with the volume and type of injuries arriving at Al-Shifa Medical Complex as a result of weak medical and human capabilities,quot; one official said in a statement.
AFP TV footage showed the corpses of two men being taken away on the back of a donkey drawn cart.
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the death toll from the quot;massacrequot; in Gaza City quot;rose to 104 martyrs and 760 injuries due to the bullets of the occupation forces that targeted a gathering of citizensquot;.– AFP
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