Five people were killed and 10 others were injured after an unsuccessful airdrop in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are trying to survive amid Israel's
The head nurse of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital's emergency room, Mohammed al-Sheikh, told Agence France-Presse - (AFP) that the casualties were brought to the hospital following the tragic incident.
Sheikh said the deadly airdrop occurred north of the coastal Al-Shati refugee camp.
A witness from the camp told AFP he and his brother followed the parachuted aid in the hope of getting "a bag of flour."
"Then, all of a sudden, the parachute didn't open and fell down like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses," said Mohammed al-Ghoul.
"Ten minutes later, I saw people transferring three martyrs and others injured, who were staying on the roof of the house where the aid packages fell," the 50-year-old told AFP.
The United States and Jordan are among the countries to have carried out airdrops in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing dire conditions after more than five months of war.
Referring to the five killed on Friday, the government media office in Gaza said airdrops were "futile" and "not the best way for aid to enter."
The United Nations has said airdrops or a proposed maritime aid corridor cannot substitute land deliveries, urging more trucks to be permitted to reach Gaza through more border crossings.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
