“12 Palestinians drowned while trying to retrieve aid that fell off into the sea”
On Monday, near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, at least 12 Palestinians drowned while attempting to reach aid that had fallen into the sea from planes. Medics reported this tragic incident.
Footage shows hundreds of Palestinians rushing to the aid landing site, some of whom ventured into the sea while aid was falling on the shores of Gaza, and some footage shows attempts to rescue people who drowned in the sea.
Abu Muhammad, who witnessed the incident, said that the aid was dropped far from the coast into the sea, after which several men “who did not know how to swim” drowned while trying to retrieve it.
He added: “There were strong currents and all the umbrellas fell into the water, and people wanted to eat and they were hungry.” He continued: “I could not get anything. Young people can run and get this aid, but it is different for us. We call for the crossings to be opened.” “But these humiliating methods are unacceptable.”
Another eyewitness to the mass drowning in Beit Lahia urged the region’s leaders to look at us and have mercy on us.Abu Mahmoud Al-Nazer said: No one takes care of us. We are dying, and our children are dying. What do you do? Where is the conscience of the world?
The Hamas movement called on Western countries to stop airdropping aid into Gaza, warning that the method of delivering humanitarian aid is humiliating, wrong, inappropriate, and useless.
From the beginning, Hamas criticized the airdrops, describing them as useless and not the best way to deliver aid.
Israel’s strict restrictions on aid entering the Gaza Strip have depleted essential supplies, putting the entire population of more than 2.2 million people at risk of famine, according to a UN-backed report.
Humanitarian bodies, including Oxfam and Human Rights Watch, warned that Israel is using the starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza, which constitutes a war crime.
However, a senior US defense official said on Tuesday that there had been a significant increase in the amount of aid flowing into Gaza through the various crossings, resulting in the arrival of nearly 200 trucks per day, up from about 100 trucks per day in February.
The sinking incident came a day after America allowed the United Nations Security Council to issue a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to this decision, saying that his country would not abide by it.
For its part, Amnesty International said that the Israeli authorities must immediately stop
the brutal bombing campaign in Gaza and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, adding that civilian hostages must be released immediately.
It is not clear which country carried out the airdrop that led to deaths. Egypt, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, the UAE, and Jordan carried out airdrops on Monday.
The Israeli army said that it could not confirm the exact timing of airdrops by different countries and contacted all the defense ministries of the countries that carried out airdrops around that time.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that 3 aid packages out of 80 that were dropped during the airdrop over Gaza on Monday fell into the sea after a malfunction in the parachutes.
Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said: During the airdrop, which included about 80 packages, 3 packages fell into the water due to a malfunction in the parachutes.
