Aid workers say that airdrops are an expensive and ineffective way to get aid to residents, and that the missions being flown now are insufficient to meet the needs of more than two million people trapped inside Gaza.
How bad are the conditions in Gaza?
Last week, when people in the enclave saw parachutes swaying in the sky above them, they ran to meet them. Since Sunday, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France have dropped off tons of ready-to-eat meals, diapers and other essential supplies.
After nearly five months of war, Gazans have resorted to eating grains that are usually used to feed livestock or the plants they feed on. UN officials warned on Monday that famine was “almost inevitable.” The World Health Organization reported on Tuesday that 24 out of 36 hospitals in the Strip were destroyed as a result of the Israeli bombing. Those that remain operate only partially. The Ministry of Health there says that the Israeli military campaign against Hamas has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza.
Israeli officials say Hamas and allied fighters who exited Gaza early on October 7 killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 253 others hostage, leading to the current conflict. But the impoverished, densely populated region had been dependent on aid long before that. The Strip has been subject to a strict siege by Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized power in 2007.
After the Hamas attack, Israel tightened the blockade. Eventually, aid was allowed to flow, but it represented only a small fraction of the number of trucks that entered before the war.
Jordan was the first to attempt an airdrop. On November 6, Jordanian forces delivered medical and emergency supplies to a Jordanian field hospitalthe first of many such missions.
Over the past week, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France joined the country in a new effort to drop aid directly to civilians. In the latest sign of the Biden administration's growing frustration with civilian casualties resulting from the Israeli military campaign, President Biden on Friday announced authorization to airdrop US aircraft into Gaza.
Jordanian forces on Thursday loaded tightly wrapped boxes containing prepared meals, medications, diapers and feminine hygiene products onto C-130 Hercules cargo planes at King Abdullah II Air Base outside Amman. The planes took off, carrying Washington Post journalists, flew west over Tel Aviv into the Mediterranean Sea and then turned south toward Gaza.
Jordan coordinates airdrops with Israel. Israel gives Jordan a window during which missions can be safely moved and screens people on planes, including visitors, before granting permission.
Hospital drops are coordinated with contacts on the ground, who know to expect the arrival of large, GPS-guided parcels containing medical equipment, medicines and food. The C-130 can carry four such packages.
Airdrops of civilians arrive suddenly. The boxes were packed smaller to reach a larger number of civilians; The C-130 can carry 16 aircraft. On the Jordanian mission this week, it was dropped from 10,000 feet at a rate of one plane every 30-60 seconds. They are dropped along the coast, where lines of sight unobstructed by buildings mean civilians are more likely to spot them.
When the aid reached the sea, Gazans launched boats to retrieve it.
What's wrong with airdrops?
Airdrops are very expensive. The Jordanian army declined to provide details on the cost, but Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinian affairs, called it “a last resort, and a very expensive way to provide assistance.”
Airdrops may make logistical sense in some cases — to meet urgent hospital needs, for example — but aid specialists say they should not be the primary means of feeding Gaza's population of more than 2 million.
Lazzarini said: “I do not think that airdropping food into the Gaza Strip should be the solution today.” “The real answer is: Open the crossings and bring convoys and medical aid into the Gaza Strip.”
Janti Soeripto, head of Save the Children, described the Gaza airdrops as “theatrics” and warned that they were fueling chaos on the ground.
“You can't really guarantee who gets it and who doesn't,” she told the newspaper. “You can't really guarantee where it's going to end up. You could be putting people in danger.” She described children wading into the sea to try to retrieve the heavy parcels.
It is difficult to track where airdropped aid ends up. Some morphine intended for hospitals has been found elsewhere, Soeripto said.
“The best solution is to open more crossings, allow trucks to enter, do it in an organized way, and allow the United Nations and other agencies to do the distribution,” she said. “This is the safest and most effective way to do it.”
Why did the United States join this effort?
The need for the safe delivery of more aid became painfully clear on Thursday, when Gaza suffered one of the bloodiest events of the war: more than 100 people were killed when a crowd descended on a convoy of aid trucks.
Palestinian officials and witnesses blamed the shooting by Israeli forces providing security for the convoy. Israeli officials said they fired into the crowd after people moved toward the soldiers in a “threatening manner”; They blamed the stampede.
UN officials transporting medicine and fuel to Shifa Hospital reported on Friday seeing “a large number of gunshot wounds” among the wounded, according to Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The disaster drew sharp condemnations, including from Israel's allies. Britain, France, Italy and Germany called for an investigation. Biden said that this would hinder the ongoing negotiations to stop the fighting.
Biden authorized airdrops of US forces into Gaza the next day. He said Washington “will also insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more roads to provide more and more people with the assistance they need.”
“There are no excuses, because the truth is that the aid flowing into Gaza is not enough at all,” he said. He added: “I will not stand idly by, and we will not stop, and we are trying to do everything we can to get more help.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the airdrops are intended to “supplement deliveries on the ground,” not replace them.
“You can't replicate the scale, size and scope of a convoy of 20 or 30 trucks,” he said. He added that the administration is also considering sending aid on board ships. This requires permission from Israel, which controls Gaza's maritime borders.
