Five confirmed deaths in Gaza from faulty aid airdrops

Written by, Jillian Shaw | March 14 2024

Yesterday, five people were confirmed dead after an airdropped aid package malfunctioned around 11:30 a.m. local time. Eleven additional people are confirmed to have been injured at the Al Shati camp with some taken to the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City in serious condition. Out of the confirmed five casualties, two are confirmed to have been children. The event was caught on video, which has spread on social media, and showed a parachute getting tangled amongst other aid packages before dropping to the ground faster than others, with an audible crash and screaming heard in the background. 

Friday’s airdrops came from the U.S., France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Jordan, and Egypt, including food and medical supplies. U.S. Central Command shared in a social media post that the deaths were not caused by U.S. aid packages and that American airdrops had successfully delivered about 11,000 meals that day. One witness named Khader Al Zaanoun told CNN that he could not differentiate which country had sent the airdrop that malfunctioned.

The U.S. sent its first airdrop last Saturday in collaboration with Jordan, consisting of 38,000 meals. Additionally, this deployment of humanitarian aid took place the day after President Biden announced the creation of a temporary pier to allow increased aid shipments into the Gaza Strip. The U.S. Army’s 7th Transportation Brigade will be in charge of the construction, which is estimated to take weeks to build. The Pentagon stated on Friday that this could allow the U.S. to send up to two million meals a day through this port.

These aid packages follow continued warnings from the United Nations about the severity of conditions in Gaza, particularly with growing hunger and famine concerns. The UN and other aid groups have reprimanded the U.S. for not sending as much aid as is needed and sending it in inefficient ways, such as via airdrop, which experts see as more symbolic than effective. This was echoed by the Gaza governmental media office, which referred to the airdrops as “useless” and as “flashy propaganda.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on Friday confirming the construction and adding that Israeli security checks will be used to guard the dock. The ministry’s representative Lior Haiat stated that Israel plans to continue their combat against Hamas while also furthering aid access in Gaza. UN officials have simultaneously emphasized that they believe it would be more helpful for Israel to open more border crossings for trucks to deliver food through, rather than to build more airdrop infrastructure.