A parachute malfunction appears to have caused a humanitarian aid airdrop package to plummet to the earth, killing five Palestinians in Gaza — including two children. The incident occurred around 4:30 AM Eastern on Friday in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, where at least one parachute failed to deploy correctly. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed the deaths to the Associated Press.
Video of the alleged incident shows at least one of the parachutes on an aid package becoming tangled, causing the large pallet of items to drop toward the earth much faster than the other parcels. At least eleven other people are believed to have been injured in the incident, ranging in age from 30 to 50 years old, in addition to the five fatalities. Various nations, including the US, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, have dispatched aerial aid bundles in response to an escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The airdrop disaster comes amidst warnings from the United Nations about an impending famine in Gaza, home to approximately 2.3 million people. US officials have acknowledged that these airdrops fall short of tackling the full scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza but insisted the world would not stand idle as a famine unfolded in the war-torn region. This incident occurred a day after US President Biden announced plans for the military to establish a temporary seaport on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza to facilitate the importation of vital humanitarian aid.
🇵🇸🇮🇱 5 people in Gaza, including 2 children, died after parachutes malfunctioned on multiple aid packages.
They are being killed by bombs AND aid now… pic.twitter.com/QFatcBTXYY
— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) March 8, 2024