Fact Check: China airdrops aid into Gaza Strip? No, find the facts here
A video has been circulating, claiming that China broke the Israeli blockade and airdropped aid into Gaza.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The video shows China airdropping aid into Gaza.
Fact:The claim is misleading. The video is from March 2024, and it likely shows a US aid airdrop over northern Gaza. There are no reports of China helping with air drops in the region.
Hyderabad: In the context of the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, a video showing an aircraft reportedly airdropping aid via parachutes in Gaza, and people scrambling to collect it, has been circulating on social media. It is being widely shared with the claim that China is providing the aid.
One X user shared the video with the caption, āThank you #China.ā (Archive) The text on the video read, āToday Chinese planes broke the Israeli government blockade and entered the Gaza Strip to deliver food and aid.ā
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading, as the video shows the USA airdropping aid in Gaza in 2024.
A reverse image search of the keyframes revealed that the same visuals appeared in a video published by the Turkish website Yeni Safak on March 26, 2024. While the website did not specify which country dropped the aid, it mentioned that the airdrop took place in northern Gaza and that most of the aid fell into the sea. It also mentioned that CPR was performed on two Palestinians, who drowned while retrieving aid from the sea.
Below is a visual comparison of the same tower seen in the Yeni Safak video and the viral clip.
We also found the same visual of the tower in a report by The Guardian, published on the same date, titled āTwelve people reported drowned off a Gaza beach trying to reach aid drop.ā
According to the report, a piece of paper recovered from the airdrop bore Arabic text overlaid on an American flag, indicating that the aid was from the United States.
A CNN report, also dated March 26, 2024, stated that at least 12 people drowned off the coast of Gaza while attempting to retrieve aid parcels that had been airdropped into the sea, according to Palestinian paramedics.
Following the incident, Hamas condemned the airdrops, describing them as āoffensive, wrong, inappropriate, and useless,ā and called for them to be halted.
We also looked into claims of China providing aid to Gaza but found no credible reports confirming that China has conducted any airdrops in the region.
Therefore, we conclude that the video does not show China airdropping aid in Gaza. The claim is misleading.
