Loss of lives in Gaza due to aid airdrop malfunction shows urgent need for cease-fire: UN

By Merve Aydogan

TORONTO, Canada (AA) – The loss of lives in Gaza due to an aid airdrop malfunction shows an urgent need for a cease-fire in the besieged Palestinian enclave, the UN said on Friday.

Responding to Anadolu's question on the airdrop incident, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said: "We're extremely saddened by the reports of people who have been killed during airdrops ... This should be a reminder of why we need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, why we need more access by road, why we need better coordination with the Israeli authorities and better deconfliction."

He further stated the "tragic accident is a symptom of the fact that we do not have an environment in which we can do large scale predictable humanitarian delivery."

Asked whose country’s plane airdropped the aid that led to the incident, Dujarric said the UN has no further information.

The Civil Defense Service in the besieged Palestinian enclave on early Friday said at least five people were killed as aid boxes dropped from a plane fell on them in Gaza City.

For more than a week, Arab countries, namely, Egypt, the Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, and Bahrain have continued to carry out joint operations to drop food aid on the Gaza Strip, in addition to similar operations carried out by the US.

Israel has launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed more than 30,800 victims and injured nearly 73,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.