At least five individuals lost their lives and 10 others were hurt when aid packages dropped from the air landed on them in the Al Shati camp west of Gaza City. This information comes from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
Videos shared on social media displayed many aid parcels hanging from parachutes floating through the sky, but it seemed like they got twisted together. One of them, with its parachute out but not fully open, fell much faster than the others.
The people were in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, and the event took place at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time.
The U.S., Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium delivered aid to Gaza on Friday to try to provide supplies, including much-needed food, to residents facing an increasingly severe humanitarian crisis.
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(AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar)
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) rejected in a statement that the deaths were caused by U.S. airdrops.
“We are aware of reports of civilians killed as a result of humanitarian airdrops. We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed. Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of U.S. airdrops,” CENTCOM said.
