Palestinians drown reaching air drops, as Israel says truce talks at 'dead end'

1 month ago 28

Palestinians drown reaching air drops, as Israel says truce talks at 'dead end'

GAZA: Twelve people drowned trying to reach aid dropped by plane off a Gaza beach, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday (Mar 26), amid growing fears of famine nearly six months into Israel's military campaign.

A video of the airdrop 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.

In Washington, the United States said it would continue airdrops of aid to besieged Gaza, despite pleas from Hamas to stop the practice after it said 18 people had died trying to reach food packages.

It was the latest in a string of incidents involving deaths during aid deliveries in the crowded Palestinian enclave where some people are foraging for weeds to eat and baking barely edible bread from animal feed.

A piece of paper retrieved from Monday's airdrop said in Arabic written over an American flag that the aid was from the United States.

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."

"He swam to get food for his children and he was martyred," said a man standing on the beach who did not give his name.

"They should deliver aid through the (overland) crossings. Why are they doing this to us?"

Aid agencies say only about a fifth of required supplies are entering Gaza as Israel persists with an air and ground offensive, triggered by Hamas' Oct 7 attack, that has shattered the enclave, pushing parts of it into famine already.

They say deliveries by air or sea directly onto Hamas-run Gaza's beaches are no substitute for increased supplies coming in by land via Israel or Egypt.

AID DELIVERY CRISIS

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Israel to give an "ironclad commitment" for unfettered aid access into the Gaza Strip and described the number of trucks blocked at the border as "a moral outrage".

Israel says it puts no limit on the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza and blames problems in it reaching civilians within the enclave on UN agencies, which it says are inefficient.

Distribution of aid inside Gaza has been complicated, particularly in the north, and last month health authorities in Gaza said Israeli troops killed more than 100 people trying to take aid from a convoy.

Israel's military disputed that account, saying people who had rushed the convoy had been crushed to death by the crowd or aid trucks.

It has banned UNRWA, the main UN agency working in Gaza which it accuses of complicity with Hamas, from carrying out aid deliveries to the north, UNRWA's head said on Sunday.

UNRWA denies it is complicit with Hamas and is awaiting the results of investigations into its handling of the accusations, which have led some donors to pause funding.

The UN humanitarian office urged Israel on Tuesday to revoke an apparent ban on food aid to north Gaza by UNRWA, saying people there were facing a "cruel death by famine".

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma said the reported drownings showed the best way to deliver aid was by trucks run by aid agencies.

"These tragic reports coming from Gaza are yet another indication that the most efficient, fastest, safest way to reach people with much-needed humanitarian assistance is via road and via the humanitarian organisations including UNRWA who are working on the ground," Touma said.

"DEAD END"

Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediated talks on a Gaza truce "at a dead end" due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.

The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster heading up the talks, accused Hamas' Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging the diplomacy "as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan".

The warring sides had stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of Israel's offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle the governance and military capabilities of Hamas.

Hamas also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and surrounding areas southward during the first stage of the almost six-month-old war to be allowed back north.

The Israeli official said that Israel had agreed to double the number of Palestinians it would release in exchange for the hostages to 700-800 prisoners and allow some displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday that Hamas had made "delusional" demands, which it said showed the Palestinians were not interested in a deal.

In Tel Aviv, a crowd of around 300 family members of hostages and their supporters gathered outside the Israeli defence headquarters demanding a deal be done to release the captives. Some locked themselves inside cages in protest, holding placards with photos of their loved ones. "No price is too high," one of the signs said.

Hamas has accused Israel of stalling at the talks while it carries out its military offensive.

The discussions in Doha are continuing as Palestinians in Gaza face severe shortages of food, medicine and hospital care, and concerns grow that famine will take hold.

Read Entire Article