A humanitarian aid drop in the Gaza Strip turned into a tragedy, as five people were killed and ten others were injured. As the “Guardian” reported, a pallet with aid dropped from an aircraft hit people, as the parachute did not open.
Eyewitnesses said the accident happened on Friday morning near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Sati, one of the most damaged parts of Gaza, following a parachute attached to the pallet failed to open properly and the package fell onto a group of of men, teenagers and younger children, hoping to get food and other supplies.
“The injured were taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City,” said the chief emergency nurse, Mohammed al-Sheikh. A witness from the camp stated that he and his brother had followed the parachuted aid in the hope of getting “a bag of flour”. “Then, all of a sudden, the parachute didn’t open and it fell like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses,” said Mohammed al-Ghul. “Ten minutes later I saw people carrying three witnesses and other wounded, who were standing on the roof of the house where the aid packages fell.”
The US and Jordan are among the countries that have airdropped aid into northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people face dire conditions following more than five months of war.
A US defense official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “the US did not cause casualties during the airdrop on Gaza”, while a Jordanian military source said none of the kingdom’s four aircraft involved in the company is not involved in the incident.
“We are aware of reports of civilians killed as a result of humanitarian airstrikes. Our condolences to the families of those killed. Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of US airstrikes,” the US Central Command said in a post on X late Friday night.
Referring to the five people killed on Friday, the government media office in Hamas-run Gaza said the airstrikes were “in vain” and “not the best way to get help in”.
Aid agencies’ efforts to deliver humanitarian aid have been severely hampered by a combination of logistical obstacles, a breakdown in public order and time-consuming bureaucracy imposed by Israel.
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