Hamas calls for Gaza air drops to STOP after 12 people DROWN and six others die in stampedes trying to reach packages dropped along the coast in starving north of the territory

Hamas on Tuesday called for an end to airdrops of aid to Gaza after saying 12 people drowned and six died in stampedes trying to reach food parcels.

The deaths occurred on Monday in the starving north of the besieged territory, as people rushed to collect packages dropped from planes along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.

Hamas said: “We call for an immediate end to the airdrop operation and demand the immediate and rapid opening of the land crossings to allow humanitarian aid to reach our Palestinian people.”

This brings the Palestinian death toll to 32,531 since the war broke out in October.

The IDF’s bombing of Gaza has led to a severe lack of aid reaching the area.

There have been numerous cases of mass shootings of Palestinians waiting for the IDF to deliver aid by road.

The desperation of starving Palestinians has led them to risk their lives to collect incoming food parcels, but this is dangerous as they are dropped from planes on the coast.

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies needed to meet basic humanitarian needs have arrived in Gaza since October.

The UN warns of famine.

Aid entering the Gaza Strip by land is well below pre-war levels, around 150 vehicles a day compared to at least 500 before the war, according to UNRWA, the UN aid agency. Palestinian refugees.