{"id":51129,"date":"2025-07-26T19:30:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T23:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/gaza-air-drops-a-grotesque-distraction-aid-agencies-warn\/26\/07\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T19:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T23:30:15","slug":"gaza-air-drops-a-grotesque-distraction-aid-agencies-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/gaza-air-drops-a-grotesque-distraction-aid-agencies-warn\/26\/07\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza air drops &#8216;a grotesque distraction&#8217;, aid agencies warn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The focus on air drops into Gaza is a &#8220;grotesque distraction&#8221; that will not reverse the territory&#8217;s deepening starvation crisis, aid agency leaders have warned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Israel&#8217;s military said it would allow aid to be dropped into Gaza on Saturday night, while also announcing humanitarian corridors for UN aid convoys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan are expected to conduct air drops in the coming days, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the British government is committing &#8220;everything we can&#8221; to get aid to Gaza via air drops.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ciar\u00e1n Donnelly, of the International Rescue Committee, said aid drops could &#8220;never deliver the volume or the quality&#8221; of aid needed, however.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have warned of mass starvation in the Strip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported an additional five deaths due to malnutrition on Saturday, bringing the total to 127 since the war began. That number includes 85 children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The World Food Programme has warned that one in three Gazans are not eating for days at a time and that 90,000 women and children are in urgent need of treatment in what it described as a &#8220;man-made mass starvation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The debate over air drops has come about primarily due to the failure of aid to enter Gaza via the traditional land routes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The head of the UN&#8217;s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini, said earlier on Saturday that air drops are &#8220;expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians&#8221; if they go awry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lazzarini said his organisation had &#8220;the equivalent of 6,000 trucks&#8221; in Jordan and Egypt, waiting for the &#8220;green light&#8221; to enter Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said political will is required to &#8220;lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper &amp; safer. It&#8217;s more dignified for the people of Gaza,&#8221; Lazzarini wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">His comments came prior to Israel&#8217;s announcement that it would establish what it called &#8220;designated humanitarian corridors to enable the safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine.&#8221; It did not outline where those would be or how they would operate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Israel maintains there are no restrictions on aid getting into Gaza, with a government spokesperson previously suggesting the UN is working with Hamas to disrupt aid distribution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The UN rejects that, and says Israel is obstructing its ability to collect aid inside Gaza through bureaucratic obstacles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hamas denies it has been stealing aid from collection points. A recent USAID report said there was no evidence of systematic looting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This isn&#8217;t the first time Western and Arab governments have tried to get aid into Gaza from the air.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Last year, Britain&#8217;s Royal Air Force delivered 110 tonnes of aid over the course of 10 drops as part of a Jordanian-led international air coalition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, those quantities would do little to alleviate the risks of mass starvation being seen in Gaza, aid agencies have said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Analysis by the BBC has found that around 160 planes would be needed to provide enough food for a single meal for each of Gaza&#8217;s two million residents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">US Central Command (Centcom) figures from last year how their C-130 cargo planes delivered approximately 12,650 meals per plane, per trip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That would mean more than 160 flights would be needed to deliver a single meal for every one of Gaza&#8217;s roughly 2.1 million population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jordan is thought to have around 10 C-130s and the UAE a further eight.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 85 children have died of malnutrition since the war began [Reuters]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Several aid groups have warned about the dangers of dropping thousands of tonnes of food onto densely populated Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Shaina Low of the Norwegian Refugee Council said people were &#8220;drowning&#8221; as they tried to collect aid that had blown into the Mediterranean, and that boxes had &#8220;crushed people&#8221; as they fell from the sky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Even when drops were successful &#8220;it was chaos&#8221;, she said. &#8220;People were fighting over the aid. People were getting injured.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">And fears are rife within Gaza about the risks. The BBC spoke to several Gazans on Saturday who worried the drops could cause &#8220;serious harm&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">One man living in the north of the Strip told BBC Arabic&#8217;s Middle East Daily the process is &#8220;unsafe&#8221; and has &#8220;caused numerous tragedies&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;When aid is dropped from the air, it risks landing directly on tents, potentially causing serious harm, including injury or even death,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Meanwhile, Palestinians are battling dehydration along with starvation. One mother told the BBC she was &#8220;living with no food or drink, no food, no bread, not even water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We&#8217;re craving even water,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">More than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Israel imposed a total blockade of aid deliveries at the start of March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on the group to release its remaining Israeli hostages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Although the blockade was partially eased after almost two months amid warnings of a looming famine from global experts, the shortages of food, medicine and fuel have worsened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Most of Gaza&#8217;s population has been displaced multiple times and more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/gaza-air-drops-grotesque-distraction-230352038.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The focus on air drops into Gaza is a &ldquo;grotesque distraction&rdquo; that will not reverse the territory&rsquo;s deepening starvation crisis, aid agency<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/gaza-air-drops-a-grotesque-distraction-aid-agencies-warn\/26\/07\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Nc5aZsy08bnW__d803ANOg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU7Y2Y9d2VicA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/1b93e9020103e376a91e237aaa59e9c4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}