A 15-year-old Palestinian boy has been crushed to death by a falling pallet during an airdrop of humanitarian aid in Gaza, as global condemnation grows of Israel’s plan to take over the largest city in the war-torn enclave, where nearly a million people are sheltering.
Footage from Gaza, verified by Al Jazeera, shows several people gathering around the body of Muhannad Zakaria Eid on Saturday, near the so-called Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, following the airdrop.
Some people try to resuscitate the boy, whose face appears bloodied.
Other footage shows the boy’s brother carrying him away from the site and his father clutching his body at al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat.
Eid’s brother told the Reuters news agency that the Palestinian boy was killed after an aid pallet fell on top of him.
“Despite the famine and the hard conditions that we live in, my brother went to get aid that was dropped into the sea by [aero]planes. A box fell on him directly and he was martyred,” he said.
“They [the countries involved in the airdrops] cannot enter the aid through the crossing but they drop them over us and kill our children. A kid was killed in [az-]Zawayda and here and there, and nobody feels us. God is sufficient for us, against them and their aid,” he added.
The latest death comes after the United Nations repeatedly warned that the airdrops are dangerous, inefficient and costly, and it called on Israel to allow a steady supply of humanitarian assistance into Gaza via land crossings instead.
The Gaza Government Media Office said at least 23 Palestinians have been killed and another 124 wounded in airdrops of aid since Israel’s war on the enclave began in October 2023.
“We have repeatedly warned of the danger of these inhumane methods and have repeatedly called for the entry of aid through land crossings in a safe and sufficient manner, especially food, infant milk, medicines, and medical supplies,” the office said in a statement.
Medical sources in Gaza, meanwhile, said that Israeli forces killed at least 47 people in attacks across the Strip on Saturday, including dozens who were waiting for aid.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Health said that at least five more Palestinians had starved to death in the previous 24-hour reporting period, including two children.
The latest toll brings the total number of deaths from malnutrition to 217, including 100 children, since the war began.
Most of those deaths have occurred in recent weeks, as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on aid supplies entering Gaza after partially lifting a total blockade in late May.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that famine continues to pose a serious risk, “especially among children and the elderly”.
“Malnutrition among children leads to decreased immunity and may lead to death,” he said.
Severe restrictions persist
On Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP) called on Israel to allow at least 100 aid trucks per day into Gaza, noting that only 60 of its aid truck drivers have been vetted and approved by the Israeli military to date.
The 100 trucks per day the organisation called for is a fraction of the 600 per day other UN agencies and Gaza authorities have said are needed to meet the basic needs of residents in the Strip.
“Since July 27, 266 WFP trucks arriving at crossing points were turned back, 31 percent of which had initially been approved,” the agency’s latest report said.
“Convoy movements are frequently hampered by last-minute changes by Israeli authorities, and heavy insecurity due to military activities along convoy routes.”
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, also noted on Saturday that it has not been allowed to bring any humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food and medicine, for more than five months, depriving hungry and ailing Palestinians of what they need to survive.
The warnings came as Israeli forces continued to escalate their attacks across the territory. Six people were killed by Israeli soldiers while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Two other Palestinians were also killed, and their bodies were transported to the Nasser Medical Complex from a GHF aid distribution site in the southern part of the territory. One woman was killed and another person was wounded in an Israeli air strike that hit an apartment in Khan Younis in the south.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,369 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 152,850. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
‘No one and nowhere is safe’
As the death toll continues to soar, international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in the war is growing.
Several countries have raised alarm over Israel’s plans to seize Gaza City in an operation that could forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to concentration zones in southern Gaza.
A rare emergency UN Security Council meeting has been scheduled on Sunday to address the plan approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet this week.
In Gaza City, residents were defiant, promising not to leave in the event of a new Israeli ground offensive.
Umm Imran told Al Jazeera that there was nowhere safe in Gaza. “They say go south, go to al-Mawasi, but there is nowhere safe any more – north, south, east or west. No one and nowhere is safe. We will stay here.”
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said residents were unable to sleep on Friday night after Israel’s announcement.
“People are wondering what’s going to happen to them, what’s going to be left of Gaza if Israel moves on with its approved plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City,” he said.
The Israeli plan has also been condemned by the foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the diplomats warned that Israel’s plan will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians”.
“Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan also urged Muslim nations to work in unison to oppose Israel’s plan.
Speaking at a joint news conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fidan said members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting to tackle the crisis.
“We completely reject [Israel’s] intention to fully occupy Gaza. This plan is a new phase of Israel’s expansionist and genocidal policy,” he said.
Fidan added that Israel’s policy aimed to force Palestinians out of their lands through hunger, and that it aimed to permanently invade Gaza, adding that there was no justifiable excuse for nations to continue to support Israel.
“Palestine belongs to the Palestinians. Any effort aimed at expelling Palestinians from their own lands is null and void and is doomed to fail,” he said.
