{"id":10352,"date":"2024-03-26T17:50:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T17:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/26\/gazans-drown-trying-to-retrieve-airdropped-aid-authorities-say\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T17:50:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T17:50:31","slug":"gazans-drown-trying-to-retrieve-airdropped-aid-authorities-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/26\/gazans-drown-trying-to-retrieve-airdropped-aid-authorities-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Gazans Drown Trying to Retrieve Airdropped Aid, Authorities Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/26\/multimedia\/26mideast-crisis-airdrop-cmht\/26mideast-crisis-airdrop-cmht-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Gazans Drown Trying to Retrieve Airdropped Aid, Authorities Say\" title=\"Gazans Drown Trying to Retrieve Airdropped Aid, Authorities Say\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The authorities in Gaza said on Tuesday that several people had drowned while trying to retrieve airdropped aid that had fallen into the Mediterranean, the latest incident in which an airdrop has apparently led to deaths. They called for an end to airdrops over the territory and an increase in deliveries by land.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People waded into the water from a beach in northern Gaza on Monday afternoon to get the eve aid packages, according to Ahmed Abu Qamar, a Gazan-based researcher for EuroMed Rights, a human rights group, who said he had spoken to witnesses. Around a dozen people drowned, including at least one who had become entangled in a parachute, he said. Others were taken to a nearby hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The government media office in Gaza issued a statement about the drownings, but it was not possible to confirm the details independently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United Nations and other aid organizations say that trucks, rather than planes, are the cheapest, safest and most effective means of delivering aid to Gaza, a territory whose population of more than two million faces a hunger crisis that humanitarian organizations say borders on famine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But governments including the United States, France, Jordan and Egypt have in recent weeks used airdrops to supplement aid that arrives by land, while also calling on Israel to allow in more trucks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The airdrops are not without risk. The authorities in Gaza said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/03\/08\/world\/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news\" title=\"\">earlier this month<\/a> that at least five Palestinians had been killed and several others wounded when humanitarian aid fell on them in Gaza City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was not clear which country dropped the aid that landed in the sea on Monday, but the U.S. military\u2019s Central Command said it had conducted an airdrop just after midday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States \u201cdropped over 46,000 U.S. meals ready to eat into northern Gaza, an area of great need, allowing for civilian access to the critical aid,\u201d its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.centcom.mil\/MEDIA\/PRESS-RELEASES\/Press-Release-View\/Article\/3717928\/march-25-uscentcom-conducts-humanitarian-airdrops-into-gaza\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">statement said<\/a>. \u201cThese airdrops are part of a sustained effort and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A spokeswoman for Centcom on Tuesday declined to comment on the reports of deaths. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The British defense secretary, Grant Shapps, said on social media on Tuesday that his country had <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/grantshapps\/status\/1772552243247534590\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">airdropped 10 tons<\/a> of aid over Gaza, and he thanked Jordan for its help. The post gave no details of when or where the drop was made.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Governments say that the drops are necessary because of a steep fall in the amount of aid entering Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas led a deadly attack on Israel. According to U.N. data, the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/app.powerbi.com\/view?r=eyJrIjoiZTVkYmEwNmMtZWYxNy00ODhlLWI2ZjctNjIzMzQ5OGQxNzY5IiwidCI6IjI2MmY2YTQxLTIwZTktNDE0MC04ZDNlLWZkZjVlZWNiNDE1NyIsImMiOjl9&amp;pageName=ReportSection3306863add46319dc574\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">number of aid trucks<\/a> entering Gaza since then has fallen by around 75 percent. One charity, World Central Kitchen, delivered a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/25\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-aid-ship-jetty.html\" title=\"\">bargeload of aid<\/a> to Gaza earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Governments and aid groups say Israel has slowed aid deliveries through stringent inspections of trucks. The authorities in Israel blame UNRWA, the United Nations aid agency that supports Palestinians, arguing that Israel can inspect and process aid trucks faster than humanitarian groups can distribute the aid inside the territory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Abu Bakr Bashir<!-- --> and <!-- -->Adam Sella<!-- --> contributed reporting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The authorities in Gaza said on Tuesday that several people had drowned while trying to retrieve airdropped aid that had fallen into the Mediterranean, the latest incident in which an airdrop has apparently led to deaths. They called for an end to airdrops over the territory and an increase in deliveries by land. People waded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/26\/multimedia\/26mideast-crisis-airdrop-cmht\/26mideast-crisis-airdrop-cmht-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,15435,15436,15433,3451,15434],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10354,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10352\/revisions\/10354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}