what we know about the humanitarian aid drop that left five dead in the Gaza Strip

The accident took place on Friday in the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. “The parachute did not open and the cargo fell like a rocket onto the roof of one of the houses,” said a witness.

A new drama in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Friday March 8, several Arab and Western countries, including France and the United States, continued to carry out airdrops of food and medical aid on the Palestinian territory, in the face of the ongoing humanitarian disaster in the enclave after five months of war.

The fall of several packages dropped by planes left five dead and 10 injured Friday in Gaza City, according to a hospital source at AFP and the Hamas government. No independent source on site allows us to support this assessment independently.

Franceinfo reviews what we know about this incident, which comes a week after the death of more than 100 people during an aid distribution in northern Gaza.

Parcels falling “like a rocket”

According to Mohammed al-Chiekh, head nurse in the emergency room of al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, The accident occurred in the al-Shati refugee camp, located west of Gaza City. A video circulating on social networks, authenticated by the New York Times, shows a plane dropping humanitarian aid packages, including one with a visibly malfunctioning parachute. Other packages have no parachutes and are heading toward the ground, footage taken near the al-Shati camp appears to show.

“When the planes started dropping the cargo, me and my brother went to the area hoping to pick up a bag of flour”Mohammed al-Ghoul, a 50-year-old man living in the refugee camp, told AFP. “The parachute did not open and the cargo fell like a rocket onto the roof of one of the houses”, he clarified. This witness points out that he then saw people transporting three bodies, as well as injured Gazans who were on the roof of the building in question to collect packages. According to the Guardian, children and adolescents were present on this roof.

The Hamas government claimed that packages fell on some people, “as a result of an incorrect landing”.

Five dead and 10 injured, several seriously

This fall of humanitarian aid packages left five dead and 10 injured, AFP learned from a hospital source. The victims were treated at al-Chifa hospital in Gaza City, Mohammed al-Chiekh said. Mahmud Basal, a Gaza civil defense spokesman, added that several people among the 10 injured were seriously injured. “It is a tragedy which adds to the tragedy experienced by the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” did he declare.

According to Al Jazeera, the Hamas government confirmed the death toll from the incident. “We had already warned that this (drops of humanitarian aid packages) posed a threat to the lives of the citizens of the Gaza Strip and this is what happened today when the packages fell on the heads of the citizens.” he denounced in a press release. For the Islamist movement, which carried out the October 7 attacks in Israel, the humanitarian aid drops are a “flashy propaganda rather than real humanitarian service”.

The origin of the drop still unclear

The United States said it was not behind the incident in the al-Shati refugee camp. “Contrary to certain reports, this is not the consequence of American airdrops,” assured the United States Central Command (Centcom) on the social network “We express our deepest sympathy to the families of those who were killed,” he added.

According to a Jordanian military source, interviewed by AFP, Jordan carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid on Friday in the north of the Gaza Strip, without reporting any incidents. “The cargoes whose parachutes did not open and which fell during a Friday drop on Gaza did not come from a Jordanian plane”said this source. “The four Jordanian aircraft that carried out this mission in partnership with five other countries carried out their mission without incident.”

In parallel with the United States and Jordan, France, Egypt, the Netherlands and even Belgium are airdropping aid to the Palestinian enclave. The international community is trying to speed up the arrival of humanitarian aid in the territory, threatened with famine “inevitable” according to the UN. On Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said hope for the opening on Sunday of a maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza to transport more aid. American President Joe Biden, for his part, announced the upcoming construction of a “temporary pier” to Gaza to transport “massive aid”.