In the face of the increasingly desperate humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where UN warns famine ‘almost inevitable’countries have begun airdropping supplies.

After five months of war the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza via trucks carrying supplies has dropped drastically and residents of the enclave are facing huge shortages of food, water and medicine.

Foreign military aircraft have begun airdropping pallets of humanitarian aid. Jordanian aircraft, with support from countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands, have so far organized most such missions.

Several Egyptian warplanes dropped supplies into Gaza on Thursdayas well as United Arab Emirates aircraft.

Imad Dughmos, from al-Sabra in the central Gaza Strip, told AFP that he had managed to find drinking water and food thanks to the drops, but added that there were not enough supplies for everyone.

“Eventually I managed to get a few bags of pasta and cheese, but my cousins ​​didn’t get anything,” said the 44-year-old man. “I was glad to have food for my children, but it is not enough.”

Humanitarian crisis

The delivery of humanitarian aid has been reduced to a minimum since the start of the war on 7 October.

In the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli military operations began, many residents were forced to eat animal feed.

Ten children have already died “from malnutrition and dehydration”, the Hamas Health Ministry announced yesterday.

In the face of this dramatic situation, US President Joe Biden announced that the US would participate “in the coming days” in dropping humanitarian aid from the air.

“In the coming days we will join our Jordanian friends and others in airdrops of food and other goods” into Gaza, he explained.

However, an American official estimated that these drops “can only be a drop in the ocean” in relation to the needs.

Aside from the dangers associated with dropping heavy boxes in densely populated areas, Gazans told AFP that many boxes ended up in the sea.

“Most of the aid fell into the sea today and the parachutes that fell on Thursday and Wednesday were all found in the sea, with the exception of a very small number,” said Hani Gaboun, who lives in Gaza City with his wife and their five children. .

According to him, “hundreds of tons of aid are needed to deal with the famine and feed the population.”

“Extremely difficult”

For Jens Lerke, representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (Ocha), airdrops raise “many problems”.

“Help arriving in this way should only be a last resort,” he said. “Overland transport is simply better, more efficient and less expensive,” he explained.

At the same time he warned that “if nothing changes, famine is almost inevitable” in the Gaza Strip.

The UN accuses Israeli forces of “systematically” blocking access to Gaza, which Israel denies.

Humanitarian organizations, including the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), believe it would be better if Israel opened the border crossings and allowed truck convoys to enter Gaza and deliver aid safely.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that nearly a thousand trucks were waiting at the border between Gaza and Egypt.

“Airdrops are extremely difficult,” Stephane Dizaric said, but added “all possibilities remain on the table.”

Airdrops are also very expensive.

As Jeremy Condick, president of the non-governmental organization Refugees International, pointed out to the BBC yesterday, a plane can carry out aid drops equal to that carried by two trucks, but at ten times the cost.

“Instead of airdropping food, we should put a lot of pressure on the Israeli government to allow aid access through more traditional means, which allow aid to be delivered on a larger scale,” he added.