2 kids, 3 adults crushed to death after airdropped Gaza aid package’s parachute fails to deploy

Five people, including two boys, died Friday when they were crushed by an airdropped aid package that didn’t properly deploy over northern Gaza, Hamas officials and a witness said according to a report.

The package fell on three adults and two children inside the Al-Shati refugee camp around 11:30 a.m. when its parachute failed to deploy, officials from the Hamas-run Health Ministry and an eyewitness told CBS News.

Eleven others between the ages of 30 and 50 were also injured by the botched drop, the outlet reported.

Video shows several aid packages dropping through the sky from parachutes one descends faster than the others when its chute doesn’t fully open.

Multiple countries — including the US, Jordan, Egypt, France, Belgium and the Netherlands — dropped aid packages over Gaza Friday to help residents within the embattled region.

The US aid packages were not involved in the fatalities, a defense official told CBS News after a preliminary review. The investigation is ongoing.

The US planes dropped military rations, White House officials told the Daily Mail.

Airdropped aid packages have been criticized by international aid agencies for not being sufficient and should only be used as a “last resort” as the United Nations warns that more than half a million Gazans are “on the brink of famine,” tweeted Martin Griffiths, head of its Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Another UN official previously calling them a “temporary Band-Aid.”

“Humanitarian workers always complain that airdrops are good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid,” Richard Gowan, director of the its International Crisis Group, remarked last week.

A US official told CBS News that they are aware the aid packages are not enough to lessen the humanitarian crisis, but that they affirm the world aims to help Gazans.

The aid package drop comes a day after President Biden announced the US military will build a temporary port along Gaza’s coast to distribute humanitarian aid.

The US Army’s Virginia-based 7th Transportation Brigade will install the pier, officials told CBS News, adding that it’s unclear when construction will begin, but expect it to be within weeks.

The Israeli military agreed to the humanitarian pier, with Foreign Minister Lior Haiat saying it would “allow the increase of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, after security checks are carried out in accordance with Israeli standards.”

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Alyssa Guzman

March 8, 2024 8:09 pm