Israel to Allow Aid Airdrops Over Gaza During Starvation Crisis – The New York Times
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Israel to allow humanitarian airdrops over Gaza
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are expected to begin airdrops in the coming days. Israel says it is doing everything it can to allow aid into the Palestinian enclave. The U.N. accuses Israel of throwing up “bureaucratic, logistical, administrative and other operational obstacles” to the distribution of aid. Nearly 1 in 3 people in the territory is not eating for days at a time, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, which is trying to help them get enough food.
JERUSALEM — Israel will allow foreign nations to parachute humanitarian aid to a population in the Gaza Strip desperate for food, officials said Friday, during a widening crisis in which children have died of malnutrition.
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates were expected to begin airdrops in the coming days, according to COGAT, the Israeli military agency that regulates humanitarian affairs in Gaza.
The announcement followed rising international condemnation of the dire state of affairs in Gaza, with many countries — including some of Israel’s traditional allies — holding the Israeli government responsible for the situation. Israel says it is doing everything it can to allow aid into the Palestinian enclave.
“The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now,” the governments of Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement Friday.
Experts criticized the planned airdrops as largely symbolic and warned that they were unlikely to provide enough aid to the roughly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, who are in dire conditions after 21 months of war.
Nearly 1 in 3 people in the territory is not eating for days at a time, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program. Gaza health authorities say that acute malnutrition is rising and that children have died.
On Friday, the United Nations accused Israel of throwing up “bureaucratic, logistical, administrative and other operational obstacles” to the distribution of aid. Those restrictions compound other problems with getting food to hungry people, the U.N.’s office of humanitarian affairs said, including attacks on convoys by armed criminals inside Gaza.
“Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders?” said Juliette Touma, the chief spokesperson for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. “It’s much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper,” she added.
Israeli officials say they have not limited the number of trucks entering the territory, and they say the U.N. has failed to distribute hundreds of truckloads’ worth of food and other provisions from border crossings deeper into the Gaza Strip.
Ceasefire talks to end the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian armed group, have stalled. Many Gaza residents had hoped a truce would allow food to flow freely into the enclave. But on Thursday, the Israeli government and the United States announced that they were recalling negotiators from Qatar, where they had held talks with Hamas.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
UK, France and Germany call on Israel to ‘immediately lift restrictions on flow of aid’ to Gaza – live updates
More calls for war to end as hunger spreads in Gaza. UK and France call on Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on flow of aid” UN agency says almost a third of Gazans are “not eating for days” A total of 122 people – including 83 children – have died of malnutrition since the war began, the UN says. Israel says it will allow other nations to airdrop aid into Gaza – but a Jordanian official says it is still waiting for permission.
Jenna Moon
Live reporter
Image source, Reuters
UK, Germany and France have called on Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on flow of aid” as Palestinians in Gaza face a worsening crisis of malnutrition and starvation.
In a joint statement, the countries call for an end to the war and urge Israel to ensure the “most basic needs of the civilian population” of Gaza to be met “without any further delay”.
The statement comes after the French president pledged to recognise a Palestinian state – a move which Keir Starmer indicated the UK would not imminently replicate, citing the need for it to be part of a “wider plan” for peace in the region.
Meanwhile, people in Gaza face a deepening starvation crisis, with the UN’s food aid agency telling AFP almost a third of Gazans are “not eating for days”. One mother said her 14-year-old son has lost more than half of his weight.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says nine more people have died of malnutrition in the past 24 hours. A total of 122 people – including 83 children – have died of malnutrition since the war began, according to the ministry.
The effects of malnutrition are seen most quickly in children and can have a devastating range of effects, our health reporter Smitha Mundasad writes.
In response to mounting pressure, Israel says it will allow other nations to airdrop aid into Gaza – BBC Verify looks at how the method has gone wrong in the past. A Jordanian official also told the BBC it is still waiting for permission to carry out the airdrops of aid.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is “considering alternative options” to bring hostages home as US President Donald Trump said Hamas “did not want a deal”, referring to ceasefire talks. A senior Hamas official denied to the BBC that the talks had collapsed and mediators Qatar and Egypt say there was “some progress” in the latest talks.
We are pausing our live coverage for now, but you can read more across the BBC News website.