Aid drop off Gaza beach leads to drownings

FE Team | Published: March 26, 2024 23:56:16

A man salvages the remains of a copy of the Koran, Islam's holy book, from the rubble of a building that was hit overnight during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the group Hamas. — AFP

Twelve people have drowned trying to reach aid dropped by plane off a Gaza beach, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, amid growing fears of famine nearly six months into Israel's military campaign, reports Reuters.
Video of the air drop obtained by Reuters showed crowds of people running towards the beach, in Beit Lahia in north Gaza, as crates with parachutes floated down, then people standing deep in water and bodies being pulled onto the sand.
It is the latest in a string of incidents involving deaths during aid deliveries in the tiny, crowded Palestinian enclave where some people are foraging for weeds to eat and baking barely edible bread from animal feed.
The video showed the apparently lifeless body of a bearded young man being hauled onto the beach, the eyes open but unmoving, and another man trying to revive him with chest compressions as somebody said, "It's over."