Aid drop crushes tent camp in Gaza (VIDEO)

The campaign to deliver aid to the Palestinian enclave by air has reportedly caused multiple injuries and deaths

A recent batch of humanitarian aid airdropped into Gaza landed directly on a camp housing displaced Palestinians, crushing multiple tents, footage circulating online shows. Human rights groups have criticized the high-risk practice, insisting it should only be used as a last resort.

The video, said to be taken on Thursday, shows pallets with aid descending by parachute onto a coastal area of the Palestinian enclave after being offloaded offscreen by a military transport plane.

Several packages collide mid-air, with their parachutes entangling and pallets plummeting to the ground.

The packages land in a badly damaged urban area which has been turned into a refugee camp, directly hitting several tents while Palestinians rush to collect the supplies, footage shows.

Another graphic video taken in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday purportedly depicts the death of at least one civilian during an aid drop. Footage shows a bloodied teenager being carried away from the scene; the victim reportedly succumbed to his injuries shortly after. It was not immediately clear whether he was crushed by the airdrop or trampled by the crowds.

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Israel allowed air drops to Gaza in late July following a tight blockade on the Palestinian enclave which lasted months. The international effort to drop the supplies has been marred by assorted incidents, with civilians reportedly crushed by aid, killed in stampedes, and drowning while trying to retrieve supplies that landed in the sea. According to local health authorities, the civilians came under small arms and artillery fire in several instances when the supplies ended up close to Israeli positions.

The air drop effort has been criticized by human rights groups, who have argued the risky practice should be used as a last-resort option rather than as a routine way to deliver aid. A cargo plane can only carry around half of the supplies that can fit into a single flatbed truck, the activists noted, urging Israel to open land routes into the enclave. 

“While we welcome any effort to get aid to desperate civilians in Gaza, we know that airdrops are very expensive, often ineffective, and not sustainable,” Katy Crosby, senior director for policy and advocacy for Mercy Corps, an international aid group, has said.