12 Palestinians Drown While Trying to Reach Airdropped Aid

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the risks of airdropping supplies into Gaza, foreign evacuation efforts in Haiti, and Thailand’s marriage equality amendment.

Dangerous Humanitarian Aid Deliveries

At least 12 people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off Gaza’s northern coast on Monday while trying to retrieve airdropped humanitarian aid, authorities in Gaza reported on Tuesday. “We call for an end to the operations of landing aid in this offensive, wrong, inappropriate, and useless manner,” Hamas officials said. They instead urged countries to increase aid deliveries via land.

It is unclear which country is responsible for the airdrop. Egypt, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a joint Emirati-Jordanian mission all flew airdrops over Gaza on Monday. U.S. Defense Department spokesperson Sabrina Singh said three parachutes out of around 80 dropped by the United States on Monday experienced “parachute malfunctions and landed in the water,” adding that drop zones purposefully occur over water to prevent injuries if parachutes fail to open. She did not confirm any fatalities.

Monday’s drownings were not the first deaths from airdropped supplies since the Israel-Hamas war began more than five months ago. At least five Palestinians were killed and around 10 others injured near Gaza City earlier this month when packages fell on them. And on Tuesday, local officials said at least six residents were killed during a stampede while trying to retrieve airdropped aid. It is unclear which nations were responsible for these deliveries.

The United Nations and other humanitarian organizations have argued against airdropping supplies into Gaza, saying trucks are cheaper, safer, and more effective at delivering aid than planes. However, Israel has placed stringent restrictions on aid coming into the territory, and the number of aid trucks entering Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, has fallen by around 75 percent, according to U.N. data. Oxfam and Human Rights Watch have warned that Israel is “using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza, which is a war crime.” A report published last week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said extreme food shortages have reached famine levels in Gaza and could result in mass death by the end of May if an immediate cease-fire and increased humanitarian aid are not secured.

Politico reported on Tuesday that Israel has agreed to provide security for a U.S. military project to build a temporary pier off Gaza’s coast that would help deliver humanitarian aid to the enclave. No plans are finalized yet, but two U.S. officials said Israel would help protect U.S. personnel and other individuals involved in building the pier as well as offloading and distributing aid from it. Once constructed, the pier is expected to deliver more than 2 million meals.

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What We’re Following

Fleeing violence. France airlifted around 240 people from Haiti on Wednesday as gang violence escalates in the capital, Port-au-Prince. More than 170 evacuees were French citizens and around 70 others were foreign nationals. Paris’s decision echoes other nations’ efforts to evacuate their citizens, including a Canadian flight to the Dominican Republic on Monday and U.S. flights the same day to Miami, Florida.

The evacuations come amid a surge in armed attacks over the past month on key infrastructure across Port-au-Prince by gangs that have repeatedly targeted police stations; released thousands of prisoners; and closed roads, hospitals, and Toussaint Louverture International Airport. Mired in an ongoing political crisis, the country has been unable to stop the violence. Earlier this month, acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced that he would resign once a presidential transitional council tasked with choosing his successor was established.

That council has yet to be sworn in, having faced delays due to prospective members’ security concerns. On Sunday, the latest person selected to sit on the council resigned citing death threats. “Without a change, we are facing a possibility of an entire nation becoming a big open-air jail run by gangs,” former Haitian Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond told FP’s Robbie Gramer. The U.N. estimates that gangs control around 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

Rewriting marriage laws. Thailand’s lower house approved an amendment that, if passed, would legalize same-sex marriage. Four hundred lawmakers voted in favor and 10 voted against, with five either abstaining or not voting. The amendment alters the language in Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code to say a marriage is between “individuals” rather than “men and women” and changes the official legal status from “husband and wife” to “marriage partners.” It also allows LGBTQ couples to inherit property, access various tax savings, adopt children, and give medical treatment consent for partners who are incapacitated.

The bill now goes to the Senate for review on April 2; if approved, as is expected, it will then go to the king for final endorsement and then become law 120 days later. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has argued that the amendment is key to ensuring Bangkok’s status as an LGBTQ-friendly tourist destination. If the law is enacted, Thailand will become the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage and the third nation or region in all of Asia to do so after Taiwan and Nepal.

Leaked evidence. Thousands of people in Budapest on Tuesday demanded that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban resign amid allegations that senior aides in his government tried to interfere in a graft case. The case accuses former Justice Ministry State Secretary Pal Volner of accepting bribes from Gyorgy Schadl, the former head of the Hungarian Court Bailiffs Chamber. Volner and Schadl have both pleaded not guilty.

This week, former government official Peter Magyar leaked a tape from last January allegedly proving that Orban staffers tried to remove certain parts of documents in the graft investigation. Magyar said he gave the recording to Budapest’s prosecutor’s office to be used as evidence. “This is very clear evidence that the Hungarian justice system is not free and not independent,” opposition politician Katalin Cseh said.

Odds and Ends

For $4.8 million, you can buy a luxury apartment in Manhattan, a diamond-studded Mercedes, or a cow. Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis became the most expensive cow ever sold during an auction in Brazil on Tuesday. The Nelore cow was revered for her superior genetic qualities and reproductive value. We don’t even want to imagine what a gallon of milk from her would cost.