Palestinians drown trying to get aid airdropped into sea: Report
At least seven Palestinians have drowned after they swam into the Mediterranean Sea trying to get aid that was airdropped there, the AFP news agency reports, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry. At least five other people are missing in the waters off Gaza, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
They were among hundreds of people who swam into the sea near as-Sudaniya northwest of Gaza City after parcels of aid were airdropped there.
“Why can’t those who deliver aid deliver it through the crossings?“ Muhammad Sobeih, one Gaza resident who went into the sea to get aid, told Al Jazeera. “The crossings are safer and easier.”
Earlier this month, at least five Palestinians were killed in northern Gaza when an airdropped aid package fell on them after its parachute failed to open, fuelling more criticism of the aid delivery method.
Death toll from aid airdrops rises to 18: Gaza media office
Twelve people are confirmed to have drowned when they swam into the Mediterranean Sea to get aid parcels airdropped near Gaza’s northern coast, said the Gaza government’s media office.
Six more were killed in “stampedes” that broke out when aid was dropped elsewhere in northern Gaza, where extreme hunger is pervasive, it added.
The media office said such aid airdrops were “abusive” and “futile” in light of the famine-like conditions in northern Gaza, and called for the opening of land crossings which can bring in far more aid more safely and efficiently.
UN agency calls on Israel to revoke ban on food deliveries
A UN humanitarian office spokesperson has called for Israel to revoke a decision barring food deliveries to northern Gaza from the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), saying people there were facing a “cruel death by famine”.
“The decision must be revoked,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told a UN briefing. “You cannot claim to adhere to these international provisions of law when you block UNRWA food convoys.”
UNRWA’s head said on Sunday that Israel had informed the UN that it will no longer approve its food convoys to north Gaza.
