Officials from Gaza’s Hamas-operated Ministry of Health and an eye witness have informed CBS News that five people had lost their lives on Friday, as a result of an airdrop package failing to properly deploy, hence leading to parcel falling and crushing them.
The people were in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, and the incident happened at around 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
The officials who spoke with CBS News had revealed that there were two boys among the five people who were killed and that 11 others were injured in the incident.
The precise ages of the casualties was not made clear at the time of filing this report, but those injured were said to have been between 30 and 50 years old.
The United States, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium have been dropping food aid packages over Gaza for a few days now. Unfortunately on Friday, in an attempt to get supplies, including desperately needed food, to residents amid an ever-exacerbating humanitarian crises there, about five people reportedly lost their lives.
Video posted on social media have showed a large cluster of aid parcels suspended from parachutes drifting through the sky but appearing to get tangled before one, with its chute deployed but not completely opened, drops much more faster than the rest.
Airdrops of these aids have been condemned by some international agencies as bring very insufficient to meet the needs of the people of Gaza and the United Nations has warned of widespread famine among Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million residents.
U.S. officials have previously acknowledged that the airdrops are not enough but they say they’re a statement that the world is not just standing by as a famine unfolds.
Friday’s airdrop mishap is taking place a day after President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. military would construct a temporary seaport on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast capable of receiving shipments of humanitarian aid, including food, water, medicine, as well as temporary shelters.
