During the latest delivery of American military humanitarian aid to Gaza, against a backdrop of an Israeli retaliatory offensive, dozens of people packets of food fell into the sea.
It is the latest incident in which critical relief supplies to Palestinians have landed in the neighboring Mediterranean. In previous airdrops, some Palestinians have drowned while trying to access these aid packages.
On Monday, USCENTCOM reported a joint U.S.-Jordanian humanitarian airdrop into northern Gaza “to provide critical assistance to Gaza civilians affected by the ongoing conflict.”
The aid packages included food provided by Jordan and were delivered from three US Air Force C-130 aircraft.
“The US C-130 aircraft dropped 25,344 meal equivalents, including rice, flour, milk, pasta and canned goods, providing vital humanitarian assistance,” CENTCOM said.
But when the aid was dropped, about 60 food packages landed in the sea. CENTCOM said it had not “assessed damage to civilians or infrastructure at this time, but was continuing to monitor the situation. Some earlier reports from Gaza indicated that aid drops had injured and even killed people or caused them to put themselves in risky positions to retrieve them.
During the March 29 aid drop, CENTCOM said about 26 packages landed in the sea; and on March 21, the parachutes of five packages out of a total of 80 failed to deploy, as the aid packages landed in unpopulated areas and caused no damage, CENTCOM said.
The latest news on drops landing outside the target area comes on the heels of recent reports that Palestinians have drowned while trying to swim to fetch aid packages from the ocean. At least 12 Palestinians drowned on March 27, according to the Hamas-led government in Gaza. Six other people died in a “rush” for humanitarian aid.
Earlier this month, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said five children were killed and others injured by aid drops with faulty parachutes. Business Insider has not been able to independently verify these claims.
Video footage and photos, however, showed Palestinians rushing to reach aid in northern Gaza, with some struggling to get help and swimming to retrieve packages from the water.
On Monday, CENTOM reiterated that “humanitarian airdrops contribute to ongoing efforts by the United States and partner governments to alleviate human suffering.” These airdrops are part of an ongoing effort, and we continue to plan follow-up airdrops.”
As the United States and other countries have moved to drop aid into Gaza as part of Israel’s war against Hamas, some officials have pressed Israel to prioritize providing increased humanitarian aid to starving civilians.
“We are going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more people the help they need,” President Joe Biden said. said by announcing the reduction in American aid in March. “No excuses because the truth is that aid to Gaza is far from enough.”
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