Five people were killed by a load falling from the sky because the parachute did not open properly, as the Ministry of Health, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas, confirmed at the request of a dpa employee on site. The USA and Jordan later distanced themselves from the incident.
Videos on social media showed how the large aid package fell to the ground practically unchecked. A spokesman for the US Department of Defense said on Friday (local time) in Washington that press reports that the US military’s air drops had caused casualties among the civilian population on the ground were false. “We have confirmed that all of our aid packages landed safely on the ground,” he emphasized. The responsible regional command confirmed in a statement on Saturday night that the deaths were not due to US air drops.
Technical error
From Jordan, the state news agency reported, citing unnamed sources, that the technical error did not occur on any of the Jordanian aircraft involved.
In view of the catastrophic supply situation, the USA and other nations began dropping aid supplies of food from parachutes, especially in the north of the embattled coastal strip.
