Multiple People Killed After Being Hit By Airdropped Aid Packages in Gaza

Aid packages being airdropped to the starving civilians in Gaza have reportedly fallen on multiple people, killing five and injuring 10, CNN reported Friday, citing a journalist on the ground.

Video of the incident showed parachutes being deployed over northern Gaza carrying aid as Palestinians were seen running toward the coastline to retrieve the packages.

Correspondent Jeremy Diamond gave a preliminary report on the situation. “Muhammad Al-Sheikh, Head of Emergency Care Department at Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City confirmed five people were killed in the incident,” added the CNN report.

“What we are seeing there is this continued effort to drop aid via the air from the United States, Jordan, Egypt, multiple countries,” Diamond said, continuing:

But today we’re getting a picture of why that method is so inefficient and also why it is so dangerous. We’re getting reports today of multiple people having been killed or injured as a result of some of these airdrops in northern Gaza. And that just gives you a sense of how perilous this can be. And it also gives you a sense of the importance of opening up more of these land crossings into Gaza. We heard the president talk about that last night. And reportedly Israeli officials are set to open this week another crossing into northern Gaza, although they haven’t yet confirmed the details of exactly where that will be or how much aid can get in that way.

ABC News reported that the five killed were children, citing the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. The country that made the fatal airdrop hasn’t been identified, but “A U.S. State Department official told ABC News their understanding is this wasn’t a U.S. airdrop.”

“Press reports that U.S. air drops resulted in civilian casualties on the ground are false, as we’ve confirmed that all of our aid bundles landed safely on the ground,” said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. News sources like MintPress News were quick to blame the U.S. for the airdrop.

A combined operation between the US and Jordan deployed 38,000 meals in its first airdrop last Saturday. Aid agencies have criticized the method as insufficient and “ineffective.” Biden has since vowed to build a port in Gaza to deliver aid from the sea.

Additional clips went viral on Friday showing the parachutes on several large containers of aid appearing to fail. The videos have not been independently confirmed.

Watch the clip above via CNN.