Israel-Hamas war: Hamas says airdropped aid is causing deaths; Israel continues to wage war

Hamas has urged foreign nations to stop parachuting aid into war-torn Gaza after officials and humanitarians said 18 people died trying to reach food packages in the starving north of the Gaza Strip.

Instead, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip demanded that its enemy Israel allow more aid trucks to enter the besieged territory, which the United Nations has warned is on the brink of a “man-made famine”.

Jordanian, US and other planes have airdropped food into Gaza, even as UN officials and aid agencies have warned this falls far short of the dire needs of its 2.4 million people and is far less effective than ensuring overland access.
Parachutes of humanitarian aid dropping over the besieged Palestinian territory on March 26, 2024. Hamas has urged the airdrops to stop as they are causing havoc on the ground. Picture: AFP
Parachutes of humanitarian aid dropping over the besieged Palestinian territory on March 26, 2024. Hamas has urged the airdrops to stop as they are causing havoc on the ground. Picture: AFP

On Tuesday, as Jordanian, Egyptian, Emirati and German planes again airdropped relief goods, with the sight of food packages floating down on parachutes sending Palestinian crowds rushing toward them.

Six people were killed in stampedes and 12 others drowned off the territory’s Mediterranean coast, the Hamas government and the Swiss-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said.

Hamas in a statement called for “an immediate end to airdrop operations” and “the immediate and rapid opening of land crossings to allow humanitarian aid to reach our Palestinian people”.