Airdrops are a last resort. They are ineffective, inaccurate, expensive and dangerous.
They are only chosen as an option when things are truly desperate.
The White House spokesman admitted this immediately after President Biden announced this America will carry out airdrops inside Gaza.
“There are no missions more complex than airdropping humanitarian aid,” Admiral John Kirby said.
What makes Biden’s decision even more remarkable is that America is abandoning aid to face the consequences of a war being waged with American weapons by one of its closest allies. This is a war run by Israel and enabled by America.
This is not Iraq's Mount Sinjar, where the US military airdropped aid onto a town besieged by ISIS in 2014. This is not Berlin in 1948, which was besieged by the Soviet Union.
Israel enjoys almost complete military control over most parts of the Strip. Israel controls the aid that reaches Gaza. It enters through only two crossings in the south, in quantities that relief agencies and the United Nations said were completely insufficient.
The Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, where people are said to be on the verge of starvation, is closed.
However, the Israeli army, with its own supplies, enters and exits Gaza daily through several crossings.
The Israeli security minister said this week that transporting humanitarian aid to Gaza is “insanity while the kidnappers are still detained.” A clear call for collective punishment of desperate populations.
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The decision taken by America to airdrop aid into Gaza constitutes an implicit admission of radical failure.
It is also unlikely to do much to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe.
Airdrops are ineffective because only small amounts of aid can be dropped at a time, such as food pallets parachuted from the back of planes.
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It is imprecise because you cannot control exactly where the aid will go.
They are dangerous because aid drops can injure people as they land and because they can cause a stampede on the ground. Aid is usually distributed in coordination with relief officials on the ground.
It is expensive because it requires significant coordination between air forces.
In short – this is a striking example of how much [man-made] Gaza disaster now.
