Slovenian President Natasa Pirc-Musar condemned the latest tragic events in Gaza, where more than 100 people lost their lives during the delivery of humanitarian aid, and compared it to the images she witnessed during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s.

“In the wake of the tragic events unfolding in Gaza, where more than 100 Palestinians lost their lives during the delivery of humanitarian aid, the world is witnessing a staggering death toll of more than 30,000. This appalling figure serves as a reminder of the grave responsibility of those who perpetrate these acts of violence,” Pirc-Musar wrote on X platform.

She stressed it was “deeply distressing” to see history repeating itself in its most horrific manifestations, drawing a parallel between this and the events of the 1990s in the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo.

“As a young journalist who once witnessed the horrors of the Sarajevo market attack, the memories of those killed remain haunting. Yesterday's events in Gaza, where lives were lost waiting for essential humanitarian aid, evoke a similar sense of shock and sadness. How many more lives must be lost simply waiting for food?,” she said referring to one of a few tragedies at the busy Sarajevo Markale marketplace, when dozens were killed and more than 100 injured after a shell was fired from the hills above Sarajevo, controlled by then Bosnian Serb forces.

On Thursday in Gaza, at least 104 people were killed and hundreds injured in a chaotic incident where Israel Defense Forces’ troops opened fire as hungry Palestinian civilians were gathering around food aid trucks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, CNN reported on Thursday.

Israel was at first denying the allegations but a day later, an Israel Defence Forces spokesperson told Sky News that Israeli troops did open fire while Palestinians were trying to collect food yesterday, but insisted there was “no occasion where we intentionally fired on people trying to get aid”.

Some countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan strongly condemned the mass killings.

German Foreign Minister urged Israeli army to “fully explain” how “mass panic and shooting could have happened” while people gathered to collect supplies from a convoy.

UN Secretary General Antoni Guterres said that the deaths need to be independently investigated.