Five killed in Gaza by air drop aid parachute fail

Five Palestinians were killed and several injured when parachutes dropping aid packages into north Gaza failed to open and smashed into residential buildings on Friday, medics and local officials in the occupied territory said. 

The deadly airdrop occurred north of the coastal Al-Shati refugee camp and the casualties were rushed to Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital, the emergency room's head nurse, Mohammed al-Sheikh, told AFP.

The air forces of the United States and Jordan have been conducting joint operations to drop tonnes of food parcels into the northern areas of Gaza over the past week, as humanitarians have struggled to distribute aid on the ground as fighting between Israel and Hamas rages on.

Gaza's government media office said on Friday that the airdrops were "flashy propaganda rather than a humanitarian service".

"We previously warned it poses a threat to the lives of citizens in the Gaza Strip, and this is what happened today when the parcels fell on the citizens’ heads," the office said in a statement.

"Before it is too late, bring in aid through land crossings," it said.

A witness from the Al-Shati camp told AFP he and his brother followed the parachuted aid in the hope of getting "a bag of flour".

"Then, all of a sudden, the parachute didn't open and fell down like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses," said Mohammed al-Ghoul.

The US military executed a new airdrop of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, delivering over 36,800 meals by parachute.

But the airdrop sparked criticism from Palestinians who called it inadequate and hypocritical when the US funds and supplies Israel’s military… pic.twitter.com/b729Yq0zoN

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) March 6, 2024

"Ten minutes later I saw people transferring three martyrs and others injured, who were staying on the roof of the house where the aid packages fell," the 50-year-old told AFP.

Hundreds of thousands of people in north Gaza are facing famine-like conditions after more than five months of war.

The United Nations has said airdrops or a proposed maritime aid corridor cannot be a substitute for land deliveries, urging more trucks to be permitted to reach Gaza through more border crossings.

Aid experts have largely criticised airdrops as an inefficient and costly approach, regarded as a last resort in emergencies. Operations usually attempt to drop aid onto beaches to reduce any risk of accidents or civilian harm.