Gaza air drops ‘a grotesque distraction’, aid agencies warn

The emphasis on the airfall in Gaza is a “grotesque distraction” which will not invert the in -depth famine crisis in the territory, warned the leaders of the aid agency.

The Israeli army said it would help be deposited in Gaza on Saturday evening, while also announcing the humanitarian corridors for the United Nations assistance convoys.

The United Arab Emirates (Water) and Jordan are expected to make aerial declines in the coming days, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the British government was committing “everything we can” to obtain aid to Gaza via aerial drops.

Ciarán Donelly, of the International Living Committee, said that aid reductions could “never provide the volume or quality” of the necessary aid, however.

More than 100 international aid organizations and human rights groups have warned against mass famine in the band.

The Gaza Ministry of Health managed by Hamas reported five additional deaths due to malnutrition on Saturday, bringing the total to 127 since the war. This number includes 85 children.

The World Food Program has warned that in three Gazans does not eat for days both and that 90,000 women and children have an urgent need for treatment in what it described as a “artificial mass starry”.

The debate on aerial drops occurred mainly due to the non-help to enter Gaza via traditional terrestrial routes.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said earlier on Saturday that the aerial drops are “costly, ineffective and can even kill hungry civilians” if they go wrong.

Lazzarini said his organization had “the equivalent of 6,000 trucks” in Jordan and Egypt, waiting for the “green light” between Gaza.

He said the political will is required to “lift the seat, open the doors and guarantee safe movements and worthy access to people in need”.

“Driving help is much easier, more efficient, faster, cheaper and safer. It is more worthy for the inhabitants of Gaza,” wrote Lazzarini.

His comments came before the announcement of Israel according to which he would establish what he called “the humanitarian corridors designated to allow the sure movement of the convoys of the UN which provide food and medicine”. He did not describe where they would be or how they would work.

Israel maintains that there is no restriction on Gaza aid, with a government spokesman previously suggesting that the UN is working with Hamas to disrupt the distribution of aid.

The UN rejects this, and says that Israel obstruct its ability to collect aid inside Gaza thanks to bureaucratic obstacles.

Hamas denies that it has stolen the help of collection points. A recent report from the USAID indicated that there was no evidence of systematic looting.

This is not the first time that Western and Arab governments have been trying to obtain aid in Gaza from the air.

Last year, the British Royal Air Force delivered 110 tonnes of aid during 10 drops as part of an international air coalition led by Jordan.

However, these quantities would not do much to alleviate the risk of mass famine observed in Gaza, assistance agencies said.

The BBC analysis revealed that around 160 planes would be necessary to provide enough food for a single meal for each of the two million residents of Gaza.

US Central Command (Centcom) figures from last year how their C-130 cargo aircraft delivered approximately 12,650 meals per plane, by travel.

This would mean that more than 160 flights would be necessary to deliver a single meal for each of the approximately 2.1 million inhabitants of Gaza.

Jordan would have about 10 C-130 and the water still eight.

Several aid groups have warned of the dangers of dropping thousands of tonnes of food on densely populated Gaza.

Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council said that people “drowned” when they were trying to collect aid that exploded in the Mediterranean, and that the boxes had “crushed people” by falling from the sky.

Even when the drops succeeded “it was chaos,” she said. “People were fighting for help. People were hurting themselves.”

And fears are widespread in Gaza on risks. The BBC spoke to several Gazans on Saturday which feared that the drops cause “serious damages”.

A man living in the north of the strip declared daily in the Middle East of the BBC, the process is “dangerous” and “caused many tragedies”.

“When the aid has fallen from the air, it risks landing directly on the tents, which could cause serious damage, including injuries or even death,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians fight against dehydration with famine. A mother told the BBC that she “lived without food or drink or food, no bread, not even water.

“We want water itself,” she said.

Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to the attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas.

Israel imposed a total blockade of aid deliveries in early March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a cease-fire of two months. He said he wanted to put pressure on the group to release his remaining Israeli hostages.

Although the blockade was partially attenuated after almost two months in the midst of the warnings of an imminent famine of global experts, the shortages of food, medicine and fuel have worsened.

Most of the Gaza population has been moved several times and more than 90% of the houses are estimated to be damaged or destroyed.