Israel must address Gaza aid disaster, says German foreign minister

(L-R) German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock Katharina Zweig, Professor of Theoretical Computer Science, German Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth Lisa Paus and Emre Celik, anti-discrimination expert at Google DeepMind, discuss at the "Cliche-Free Initiative" conference entitled "Cliches, professions and cultures - what we can learn from each other" at the Foreign Office. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday expressed shock at the bloody outcome of an aid delivery to Gaza the previous day and called on Israel to clarify the situation.

"People wanted aid supplies for themselves and their families and died. I am shocked by the reports from Gaza," Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Israeli army must now fully investigate how the mass panic and shooting occurred, she added.

Baerbock expressed her sympathy to the families of the victims and called for more humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, saying that people there were "closer to dying than to living."

The minister reiterated her call for a humanitarian ceasefire "so that the hostages can finally be released from the hands of Hamas and no more people die in Gaza. And aid can be distributed safely."

According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 100 people were killed and several hundred injured when the truck convoy arrived on Thursday with supplies for the north of the coastal strip.

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