Five people were killed Friday in a humanitarian aid package airdropped when at least one parachute failed to open properly and the parcel fell on them.
The incident occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. Two boys were among the five dead and 11 others were injured. The exact age of the victims was not specified, but preliminary reports indicate that they were between 30 and 50 years old.
The US Central Command said the deaths were not caused by US airdrops: “We are aware of reports of civilians killed as a result of humanitarian airdrops,” CENTCOM said.
We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed. Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of U.S. airdrops.
A video posted on social media shows a large cluster of humanitarian aid parcels suspended from parachutes drifting in the sky but appearing to become entangled until one of them, with its parachute deployed but not fully opened, falls much faster than the rest.
International aid agencies have criticised the airdrop parachutes. Martin Griffiths, the world organisation’s chief humanitarian aid coordinator, said on social media on Friday that the airdrops landings were “last resort.”
“All those concerned about the situation in Gaza should put pressure on Israeli government to grant unimpeded humanitarian land access & not blocking convoys,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday, calling the airdrops “good but insufficient.”
On Friday, the US, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium dropped humanitarian aid planes over the Gaza Strip in an attempt to deliver much-needed food to residents amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.
