What we know about the humanitarian aid drop that killed five in the Gaza Strip

The accident took place on Friday in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. “The parachute did not open and the cargo fell like a rocket on the roof of a house,” said a witness.

A new drama in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. On Friday March 8, several Arab and Western countries, including France and the United States, continued airdrops of food and medical aid to the Palestinian Territory, in the face of an ongoing humanitarian disaster in the enclave after five months of war.

Five were killed and 10 injured after several packages dropped by planes fell in Gaza City on Friday, according to AFP and a Hamas government hospital source. No independent source on the site allows us to independently endorse this assessment.

Franceinfo reviews what we know about the incident, which comes a week after more than 100 people died during an aid delivery in northern Gaza.

Parcels are falling “like rockets”.

According to Mohammad Al-Cheikh, head nurse at the emergency room of Al-Chifa Hospital in Gaza,

The accident took place in Al-Shati refugee camp, located west of Gaza City. Video circulating on social networks, certified by New York Times, Shows a plane dropping humanitarian aid packages, including one with an apparently malfunctioning parachute. The other packages have no parachutes and are heading towards the ground, footage taken near al-Shati camp shows.

“When the planes started unloading cargo, my brother and I went to the area hoping to get a bag of flour”Mohamed al-Ghoule, a 50-year-old man living in the refugee camp, told AFP. “The parachute did not open and the cargo fell like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses”., he clarified. This witness points out that he then saw people transporting three bodies, as well as an injured Ghazan who was on the roof of the building in question to collect the package. According to parent, Children and teenagers were present on this roof.

The Hamas government claimed that the packages fell on some people, “As a result of a false landing”.

Five dead and 10 injured, several seriously

The collapse of humanitarian aid packages left five dead and 10 injured, AFP learned from a hospital source. The victims were treated at al-Chifa Hospital in Gaza City, Mohammed al-Cheikh said. Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal added that many of the 10 wounded were seriously injured. “It is a tragedy that adds to the tragedy experienced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,”

He declared.

According to Al Jazeera, the Hamas government has confirmed the death toll in the incident. “We already warned that this (drops of humanitarian aid packages) posed a threat to the lives of civilians in the Gaza Strip and that is what happened today when packages fell on the heads of civilians.” He condemned in a press release. For the Islamic movement, which carried out the October 7 attacks in Israel, humanitarian aid drops a “Flashy propaganda instead of real humanitarian service”.

The origin of the drop is still unclear

The US said it was not behind the incident in Al-Shati refugee camp. “Contrary to certain reports, this is not the result of American airdrops,” Convinced the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on the social network “We express our deepest condolences to the families of those killed,” he added.

According to a Jordanian military source interviewed by AFP, Jordan carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid in the north of the Gaza Strip on Friday without reporting any incidents. “The cargo parachutes that did not open and which fell during Friday’s drop on Gaza did not come from a Jordanian plane”.This source said. “The four Jordanian aircraft that carried out the mission in partnership with five other countries completed their mission without incident.”

Alongside the United States and Jordan, France, Egypt, the Netherlands and Belgium are also airdropping Palestinian enclaves. The international community is trying to speed up the arrival of humanitarian aid in a region threatened by drought “Indispensable” According to the UN. On Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said The opening of the maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza is expected on Sunday to transport more aid. American President Joe Biden, for his part, announced the upcoming construction “Temporary Pier” Gaza for transportation “Great help”.