Gaza airdrop mishap kills five
A pallet of aid supplies crashed into a house after its parachute failed to open.
A food airdrop into Gaza killed five Palestinians and injured 10 others after its parachute malfunctioned on Friday.
The parachute of one pallet of food aid being dropped from a plane did not open and crashed into a house north of the coastal Al-Shati refugee camp, Mohammed al-Sheikh, emergency room head nurse at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, told Agence France-Presse.
Jordanian and United States military officials denied that aircraft from either country caused the fatalities.
“We express sympathies to the families of those who were killed,” the US Central Command said in a statement.
“Contrary to some reports, this was not the result of US airdrops.”
Belgium, Egypt, France and the Netherlands were also involved in the airdrop.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine in the Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli siege following the 7 October attack by Hamas terrorists that triggered the war.
UN agencies have urged increased overland access, insisting that air or sea delivery was ineffective.
The Pentagon said on Friday the plan to establish the “Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore” port to receive aid cargoes would take up to 60 days and likely involve up to 1,000 US personnel.
Once established, it “could provide more than two million meals to the citizens of Gaza per day,” Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told reporters in Washington.
The pier would allow ships to transfer cargo to smaller vessels to transport and offload onto a temporary causeway for delivery to Gaza, said Ryder, who repeated
US President Joe den’s promise that there would be no US troops on the ground in Gaza.
US officials said the plan builds on the maritime aid corridor proposed by Cyprus — the closest European Union member to Gaza.
Meanwhile, in Cairo, mediators negotiating for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists failed to reach a deal as the armed wing of the group said it would not agree to a hostage-prisoner exchange without the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida said “there is no compromise on this.”
Hamas negotiators left Cairo to consult with the movement’s leadership in Qatar but US officials denied the negotiations had broken down.
“The ball is in their court,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Washington.