Some couldn’t swim
Several Palestinians drown after aid is dropped at sea
March 26, 2024, 10:07 p.m
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In the northern Gaza Strip, the suffering of the civilian population is particularly great in the Gaza war that has lasted more than five months. After aid packages ended up in the sea, several people are said to have tried to get to them – even those who couldn’t swim.
According to the Islamist Hamas, twelve Palestinians drowned in the sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip after aid supplies were dropped from planes. They had tried to reach packages that had fallen into the sea off a beach in the northern part of the coastal area, the Hamas-controlled government’s media office said. The human rights organization EuroMed Rights, citing eyewitnesses, also spoke to the New York Times of around a dozen drowned people.
The incident, which could not be independently verified, is said to have occurred on Monday afternoon. Eyewitnesses said some of those who drowned could not swim, while others became entangled in the ropes that tied the packages together.
In the northern Gaza Strip, the suffering of the civilian population is particularly great in the Gaza war that has lasted more than five months. Aid deliveries arrive there by land only in sparse numbers because Israel keeps the border crossings in the north of the Gaza Strip closed. Within the coastal area, travel for trucks is very dangerous due to fighting and anarchic conditions.
The USA, Jordan and other countries have been dropping aid supplies from military aircraft for over a month. In mid-March, Germany also joined the initiative. However, the aid organizations point out that an airlift of this type cannot replace the transport of relief goods on land. The war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.