Five Palestinians were killed and several others were injured on Friday by an aid airdrop package when one or more parachutes failed to properly deploy in the Al Shati refugee camp, near Gaza City, according to reports.
Muhammad Al-Sheikh, Head of the Emergency Care Department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, in Gaza City, confirmed to CNN that five Palestinians, including two children, were killed in the incident, adding that some of the wounded are in critical condition.
A video widely circulated on social media shows several packages plummeting to the ground from a parachute.
Five Palestinians were killed and others injured by an aid airdrop package when one or more parachutes failed to properly deploy in the Al Shati refugee camp.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/PQoA8FyxSB pic.twitter.com/LHsZrqrNWp
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) March 8, 2024
Egypt, France, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates have participated in aid airdrops to Gaza in recent days, but experts say they are inefficient and expensive.
Additionally, part of the meals have fallen into the sea or in the so-called Gaza envelope.
“Today’s random aid airdrop operation resulted in 5 martyrs and several injuries, despite our prior confirmation that such operations are ineffective and not the optimal way to introduce aid,” the office said in a statement.
“We demand the opening of the land crossings for the immediate and urgent entry of thousands of tons of aid to prevent the deepening of the famine in the Gaza Strip, especially in the Gaza and North governorates,” the statement added.
“We repeat what we have previously stated that aid drop operations in this manner take on more of a show and propaganda nature than of humanity, decency, and service,” the office also stated, holding the international community and Israel fully responsible for the genocide and “the policy of starvation against our Palestinian people.”
‘A Stage of Horror’ – UN Expert Slams Israel’s Starvation of Gazans as Genocide
Israel has imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, bombing it from the land, sea and air and cutting off power, food and water. The situation is particularly dramatic in northern Gaza, where aid trucks are now allowed to access.
Moreover, on February 29, Israeli forces opened fire and shelled crowds awaiting humanitarian aid convoys at the Al-Nabulsi roundabout, in Gaza City, killing and wounding nearly 1,000 Palestinians.
Gaza Genocide Continues
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 30,878 Palestinians have been killed, and 72,402 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
