Palestinian authorities say deaths resulted from attempts to recover crates that fell in water after parachutes went wrong

Twelve people drowned trying to get to aid dropped by plane off a Gaza beach, Palestinian health authorities have said, amid growing fears of famine nearly six months into Israel’s military campaign.

Video of the airdrop on Monday showed crowds of people running towards the beach, in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza, as crates with parachutes floated down, then people standing deep in water and bodies being pulled on to the sand.

In Washington, the Pentagon said three of the 18 bundles of airdropped aid into Gaza on Monday had parachute malfunctions and fell into the water, but could not confirm if anyone was killed trying to reach the aid.

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  • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    8 months ago

    You are assuming that 17% was total failure, and this equipment is one time use on equipment so not at all invested in reliability. One line snapping is technically a malfunction - compare that to the reusable parachutes that carry people and watch the reliability difference.

    These are also aid packages that get ripped out of the back of a moving aircraft, fall in windy conditions and are then torn apart to be used. Would you rather this or half the number of packages that are now more reliable?