Five Palestinians have died after the parachutes of aid packages airdropped into Gaza failed to open, world media reported on Friday.
An eyewitness and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least one airlift parachuted, CBS News reported.
The US, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium have sent aid to Gaza in recent days as fears of starvation among the population grow, the BBC said.
Jordanian state television quoted a source as denying that a Jordanian plane was involved in the incident. A U.S. official told CBS that an initial review suggests no U.S. airdrop was involved.
A video posted on social media on Friday showed an aid drop from a C-17 cargo plane north of Gaza City, in an area that has been largely cut off from aid in recent months.
While most of the large aid packages fall with their parachutes open, one fails to open and falls in an uncontrolled manner.
Humanitarian organizations are critical of providing aid in this way, saying it is a last resort that cannot meet the growing need.
On Friday, the EU, UK, US and other countries said they planned to open a sea route to Gaza to deliver aid, which could become operational this weekend.
The US said it would build a temporary port to send aid directly to Gaza, but US officials said that would take weeks.
Western countries have pressed Israel to expand the delivery of aid by road, providing more routes and opening additional crossing points.
Over the past week, the US military, in coordination with Jordan, Egypt and France, delivered over 70,000 food rations to the Gaza Strip.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “We continue to urge Israel to put more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it.”
Israel denies blocking aid from entering Gaza and blames aid agencies for not distributing it.
Aid trucks enter southern Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of Israel’s ground offensive, has been largely cut off from aid in recent months.
An estimated 300,000 Palestinians live there with little food or clean water.
Last week, more than 100 people were killed trying in desperation to reach a ground convoy of aid. Palestinians said most were shot dead by Israeli troops.
The Israeli military, which monitored private aid deliveries, said on Friday that its troops did not fire on Palestinians around the aid convoy, but on “suspects” nearby who they considered a threat.
The Israeli military launched an air and ground campaign in Gaza after Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 killed around 1,200 people and took another 253 hostage.
More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said.
#Airdrops #kill #people #Gaza