Kuwait Roundabout mass killings

Overview

During March 2024, amid the Gaza war, civilians gathering to receive humanitarian aid at the Kuwait Roundabout near Gaza City were repeatedly killed and injured in a series of attacks. According to the Gaza Health Ministry (GHM), the most widely documented incident on 14 March 2024 killed at least 21 people and wounded 155 others. Al Jazeera reported that some of the wounded were left bleeding in the streets for hours, and that others taken to al-Shifa Hospital did not receive treatment due to shortages of staff and supplies there.

Background

Following the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel announced on 9 October 2023 that it would temporarily restrict food supplies entering Gaza, citing security concerns about aid being used to smuggle military supplies. Aid continued to enter under restricted conditions, while the population in Gaza faced severe food shortages. By mid-March 2024, the Gaza-based Government Media Office said Israeli attacks on crowds of aid seekers across Gaza had killed at least 400 people since the war began, including during the 29 February "Flour Massacre." Al Jazeera English described attacks on aid seekers in northern Gaza as a "near-daily occurrence." The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights documented more than two dozen such incidents since mid-January 2024 without assigning blame.

Pattern of attacks

Sources describe a series of shootings and strikes at the Kuwait Roundabout and nearby Nabulsi Roundabout throughout March 2024, including incidents on 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 19, 23, 24, 27, 28, 30, and 31 March, with reported deaths ranging from single digits to at least 23 people in the 19 March strike on aid coordinators.

The 14 March attack and responsibility dispute

Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal stated that Israel was responsible. An Al Jazeera correspondent and testimony gathered by the Euro-Med Monitor said gunfire came from an Israeli helicopter, with later Al Jazeera reporting also citing indiscriminate fire from Israeli tanks. Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at al-Shifa Hospital, said victims were hit by "direct shots" from Israeli forces. The Gaza Media Office described the attack as part of a "series of massacres and brutal attacks against the defenceless civilians."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) disputed responsibility, releasing video it said showed an armed individual and asserting that Palestinian gunmen fired on the crowd to prevent looting, both before the convoy's arrival and during looting of the trucks, which it said also caused civilians to be trampled and run over. The IDF said "no tank fire, airstrike or gunfire was carried out toward the Gazan civilians at the aid convoy." A Euro-Med Monitor investigation concluded that the gunfire shown in the IDF's video appeared to have occurred at the Dawla Roundabout, about two kilometers from the Kuwait Roundabout. Bullets recovered from the dead and wounded were reported to be 5.56 x 45mm NATO rounds, ammunition used in Israeli army-issued weaponry.

Status

The circumstances and responsibility for the killings remain disputed between Gaza health and civil-defense authorities and the Israeli military.