New testimonies from Gaza City aid-seekers killing emerge

Two survivors from Thursday's Gaza City aid-seekers massacre shared their testimonies with Middle East Eye's correspondent in Gaza City.

Mustapha Hassan said he and his relatives waited from 6pm the night before as news of an aid truck approaching came to light.

"At around 3:40am, a tank and a drone approached people and started shooting at random," he said. "The shooting and shelling were insane, a level I had never witnessed since the beginning of the war."

Hassan said the tank came back 15 minutes later with aid trucks, which people rushed towards. He was able to get one flour bag before Israeli forces started shooting again.

"Tens of young men fell in front of me in seconds," he said.

He rushed to the bus that had transported him and his relatives to the al-Rasheed roundabout, only to find it filled with injured people being transported to hospitals.

"I put the flour bag in the bus and started helping them," he said. "We tried to only get those injured in the bus, because there was not enough room to put the martyrs in."

Hassan was the only one amongst his relatives who was able to get a bag. The violence at the scene was too strong for him to try going back for more.

"When I got home and held the bag of flour to give it to my mother, I started crying after seeing that a big part of the bag was red due to the blood of the injured who, like me, tried to provide food for their families."

Ibrahim Ayman, 22, was also at the scene. He said people kept trying to reach the aid despite constant shooting, which killed many people.

Ayman and his friend hid in a partially damaged apartment, fearing that Israeli forces might find them.

"In front of the building my friend and I were hiding in were at least 20 martyrs, along with several injured people bleeding and screaming from pain," he told MEE.

When he reached his home, his parents were breaking down, worried that he might have been killed.

"After the horror I saw today, I will not go get aid again," he said. "Even if my family and I will die of hunger."

In contrast, Hassan said he will keep on going to the streets whenever he hears of an aid truck arriving.

"Because death from hunger is equivalent to death from gunfire," he said.