US laments reports that Palestinians drowned trying to retrieve aid from sea in northern Gaza

WASHINGTON — US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller laments reports that several Palestinians drowned while trying to retrieve air-dropped aid that landed off the coast of northern Gaza.

“It is a tragedy,” Miller says when asked about the reports in a briefing. “It is not just a tragedy that [these] individuals died trying to get aid. It is a tragedy that they felt so desperate that they had to swim out into the ocean to try and retrieve it in the first place.”

“No one should have to put themselves at risk to try and get food, water and medicine for their families. It should just be there for them, and that is what we’re trying to accomplish through the work that we’re doing to provide humanitarian assistance and in our engagements with the government of Israel to facilitate the delivery of additional humanitarian assistance,” the State Department spokesman says.

Miller says the US has not yet confirmed who was responsible for the airdrops that landed in the sea. Last month, several Palestinians were killed after packages from an Emirati airdrop landed on top of them.

The US official says that there has been a modest increase in aid going into Gaza in recent weeks, but that such boosts have been seen before and weren’t sustained, so Washington is pushing Israel to ensure that aid continues to increase.