Airdropped Aid in Gaza Kills 5, Injures 10 After Parachute Fails to Open

SEAToday.com, Gaza-Five people were killed and at least 10 were injured after the airdropped humanitarian aid’s parachute failed to open, crashing the pallet directly into the crowd of people in the north of Gaza City on Friday (3/8) morning.

Witnesses said the incident happened near the al-Shati coastal refugee camp. The parachute on at least one of the pallets malfunctioned and failed to deploy properly. It sent the parcel falling at high speed towards a residential building. The government media office in Gaza criticized the airdropping method as previously warned that it poses a threat to Gaza people and called for allowing aid delivery through land crossing instead.

Reporting from Rafah, in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that people are experiencing “a tragedy” in the north of Gaza.

“Not only are they confronted with the lack of food and medical supplies, but as they wait for packages of food, they are either targeted by the Israeli military or killed by a non-functional parachute,” Mahmoud said.

The United States military denied responsibility, with its Central Command saying: “We are aware of reports of civilians killed as a result of humanitarian airdrops. We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed. Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of US airdrops.

The US, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium have begun airdropping aid into Gaza in recent days as concerns about famine grow amid the Israeli restrictions. It was unclear which countries’ airdrops were involved in the incident.(DHANTI/DKD)