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Relief supplies are loaded onto Air Force planes in Jordan.

Photo: AFP

The Jordanian Air Force says it has dropped aid supplies over the Gaza Strip.

The kingdom's armed forces said three planes dropped parachutes with food packages at various locations in the northern part of the coastal strip.

Humanitarian and medical supplies should continue to be airlifted to Egypt's Aarisch airport or airdropped into the Gaza Strip, the statement said.

The tense humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is increasingly leading to battles over the distribution of aid supplies.

On Thursday, more than a hundred people were killed and several hundred injured as they tried to access aid from a convoy in the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities controlled by the Islamist Hamas.

The Palestinian side accused Israeli soldiers of shooting the people.

The Israeli military, however, said the deaths were mainly due to the chaos and crowds.

There are international calls for an investigation into the accident.

“Closer to dying than alive”

For example, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was “deeply concerned” about the deadly disaster during an aid delivery in the Gaza Strip.

“Every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency,” she wrote on the platform X, formerly Twitter.

"The images from the Gaza Strip deeply worry me." Humanitarian aid is a lifeline for those in need, and access to it must be guaranteed.

“We stand on the side of the civilian population and push for their protection in accordance with international law,” said von der Leyen.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is also calling for Israel to clarify the matter.

»People wanted relief supplies for themselves and their families and found themselves dead.

The reports from Gaza shock me,” wrote the Green politician on X .

The Israeli army must fully explain how the mass panic and shootings occurred.

Baerbock expressed her condolences to the victims' families and called for more humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.

The people there are “closer to dying than alive.”

Baerbock reiterated her call for a humanitarian ceasefire “so that the hostages can finally be released from the hands of Hamas and more people do not die in Gaza.

And help can be distributed safely.«

Sharp criticism also came from China.

Foreign Office spokeswoman Mao Ning said about the accident that they were “shocked” by it and condemned the incident.

The People's Republic calls on all sides and especially Israel to immediately cease fire and end the war.

The safety of civilians must be protected and an even more serious humanitarian catastrophe must be avoided, the spokeswoman said.

Unlike many Western states, China is not clearly behind Israel in the Gaza war.

The Israeli military firmly rejects allegations of an attack on the civilian population.

An Israeli army spokesman said: "There was no attack by the Israeli military on the aid convoy."

There was a chaotic crush when numerous people rushed towards the trucks. "Some began violently pushing others and trampling them to death and looting the humanitarian aid supplies," said the army spokesman.

Another spokesman for the Israeli military, Peter Lerner, told CNN that, according to initial findings, a group of Palestinians approached Israeli soldiers a short time later.

The military then fired warning shots into the air.

However, the group continued to approach the soldiers and posed a threat, whereupon the soldiers opened fire.

According to Israeli media reports, they were said to have targeted the legs.

Neither the information provided by the Israeli military nor that of the terrorist organization Hamas can be independently verified.

muk/dpa