(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — The current situation in the Gaza Strip for the Palestinian population is indeed a horrific humanitarian tragedy.
Recent events have seen Palestinians not only killed by bombs and guided missiles from the Israeli military but now also reported to be killed by “being crushed” under humanitarian aid dropped by United States military aircraft.
International media have reported this as a “humiliating” incident for the United States military.
Palestinian officials in northern Gaza have stated that at least five Palestinians were killed by aid dropped from the air after the parachutes failed to deploy properly.
The failure of the parachutes led to the heavy humanitarian aid hurtling to the ground as soon as it was released from U.S. military transport aircraft.
Viral videos on social media show some of this aid plummeting to the ground immediately after being dropped by U.S. military aircraft, “crushing” the areas occupied by Palestinian residents in northern Gaza Strip.
According to Palestinian officials, the aid crushed the Al-Shati refugee settlement, home to thousands of Palestinians fleeing Israeli military attacks.
They report that two of the five fatalities were children, while 11 other Palestinians were injured in the incident. However, the United States military denies that the deaths of Palestinian civilians were caused by the dropping of aid from their aircraft.
“We are looking into reports of civilian deaths as a result of our humanitarian aid dropping operations,” said Central Command (CENTCOM), adding that it sympathizes with the incident but the deaths were not a result of the aid dropping operations.
World humanitarian organizations and agencies have criticized the action of dropping humanitarian aid by countries such as Jordan and the United States into the Gaza Strip, arguing it is insufficient and, as experienced by the residents of North Gaza, extremely dangerous.
They state that the best way to assist the Palestinian population currently facing starvation is to immediately declare a ceasefire and open the Rafah border crossing to allow much greater amounts of humanitarian aid into the entire Gaza Strip area.
Reports from the Gaza Strip indicate that dozens of its residents have died from starvation, particularly children and infants.
Due to a lack of food, Palestinians have been forced to consume livestock feed to survive; tragically, there are also reports of deaths from poisoning after consuming this feed.
To date, the conflict in the Gaza Strip has claimed the lives of over 30,000 Palestinian residents, the majority of whom are children and women. — DSA