Jordan stepped up coordination with international partners to drop food and other supplies to people in Gaza this week, in a defiant effort that underscored the desperate need in Gaza as aid agencies have warned of increasing constraints on their ability to distribute supplies .
Planes from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France took part in a Jordanian air operation along the Gaza coast on Tuesday, the Jordanian military said in a statement. It was the first time Egypt had dropped aid into Gaza since the start of the war and also appeared to be a first for the UAE
Jordanian and French planes also dropped aid on Monday, releasing ready meals and other supplies to various locations in Gaza, the Jordanian military said.
Aid groups usually airdrop supplies only as a last resort, given the inefficiency and relative cost of the method compared to road deliveries, as well as the dangers of navigating the airspace of a conflict zone and the risk to people who may be are hit as supplies fall to the ground if a safe drop zone cannot be established.
Some of the aid delivered on Monday was dropped by parachutes over the sea, but the Jordanian military said some aid was dropped without them on Tuesday, forcing the planes to fly at a lower altitude.
Despite the restrictions on air flights, France said it was stepping up its work with Jordan because “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is absolutely urgent,” according to a statement from the French foreign ministry.
“With an increasing number of civilians in Gaza dying of hunger and disease,” the statement said, more routes must be open for aid deliveries, including to Israel’s Ashdod port, north of Gaza.
Video from Monday showed a cluster of parachutes falling into the sea near Deir al Balah, a city in central Gaza. Men in small boats rowed through choppy waters to get help, watched by a crowd of hundreds who ran for the packages as soon as they reached shore.
Alaa Fayad, a veterinary student who took video of the scene on the beach and posted it online, said there was not much help. “It was sad to see people I know well running and crowding to get help that isn’t nearly enough,” he said.
The French Air Force plane involved in Monday’s airdrop, along with three planes from its Jordanian counterpart, dropped more than two tons of food and hygiene supplies, the French foreign ministry said.
That amount is far less than what can be carried in a truckload of supplies, and in total represents only a fraction of what the United Nations says Gaza’s more than two million residents need.
Jordan began airdropping aid in November and has since completed more than a dozen missions, mostly to supply its field hospitals in Gaza. At least one airfield mission was carried out jointly with France in January, one with the Netherlands in February and one with assistance provided by Britain last week.
In previous airstrikes, Jordan said it had coordinated its efforts with Israeli authorities, who insisted they inspect all aid entering Gaza. The Israeli military confirmed it had authorized Monday’s airstrike.
Calls for internationally coordinated airstrikes have intensified as aid groups simultaneously warn that the hunger crisis in Gaza is reaching a tipping point and that some obstacles to traditional aid distribution have become insurmountable.
Last week, the World Food Program suspended food deliveries to northern Gaza, saying that despite dire needs there, it could not operate safely amid gunfire and the “collapse of political order” in recent days. The WFP and other UN aid agencies have repeatedly warned that their access to northern Gaza is being systematically blocked by Israeli authorities, calling on the government to ease its restrictions. Israel has denied blocking aid deliveries.
The suspension of WFP deliveries in an area where they are most needed shows that, despite their many limitations, airdrops may be one of the few viable options left for quickly transporting food to northern Gaza, according to Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, Middle East policy analyst. which grew in the enclave. The Jordanian airstrikes, he said, had set a “critical precedent” for the feasibility of the approach.
“Just wanting a ceasefire or just wanting better Israeli cooperation” is not enough, said Fouad Alkatib. “We need action right now.”
Matthew Boke Big and Nader Ibrahim contributed to the report.
