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Israel allows aid air dops to Gaza to resume
Israel said Saturday it would allow food to be airdropped to Gaza and designate humanitarian corridors for UN aid convoys, as thousands of Palestinians face the threat of widespread famine.
Before Israel announced that the flights would resume, the United Arab Emirates had said it would restart aid drops and Britain said it would work with partners including Jordan to assist them.
The decision to apparently free up the flow of aid came as the Palestinian civil defence agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings Saturday, some as they waited near aid distribution centres.
At the same time, a boat carrying of pro-Palestinian activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was attempting to approach Gaza from the sea, in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.
"The humanitarian airdrop operation will be conducted in coordination with international aid organisations and the (Israeli army), led by COGAT and the IAF," the Israeli statement said, referring to the civilian affairs unit for Palestinian territories and the air force.
"In addition, it was decided that designated humanitarian corridors would be established to enable the safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine to the population," the statement said.
The statement said this would improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and disprove "the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip".
Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than two million inhabitants. They are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys.
But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart airdrops. An Israeli official had told AFP on Friday that airdrops in Gaza would resume soon and that they would be conducted by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Starmer's office said that in a call with his French and German counterparts, the "prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance".
The United Arab Emirates said it would resume airdrops "immediately".
"The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level," Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a post on X. "Air drops are resuming once more, immediately."
- 'Starving civilians' -
A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.
"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. "They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians."
Israel imposed a total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza on March 2 after talks to extend a ceasefire in the over 21-month-old conflict broke down. In late May, it began letting a trickle of aid enter.
Israel's military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory.
But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.
A separate aid operation is under way through the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but it has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points.
- Naval blockade -
On Saturday, pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla said its latest aid boat, the Handala, was approaching Gaza and had already got closer than its previous vessel, the Madleen, intercepted and boarded by Israeli forces last month.
The Israeli military said it was monitoring the situation and was prepared to enforce what it called its "legal maritime security blockade".
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed over 50 people on Saturday, including 14 killed in separate incidents near aid distribution centres.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
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