Malnutrition worsens in Gaza as aid agencies criticise Israeli aid air drop plan

Thomas Mackintosh

Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Aid agencies have said today that Israel’s decision to allow air drops of food into Gaza is inadequate and a “grotesque distraction” that won’t end starvation in the Strip.

Israel announced earlier it will allow aid air drops by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the coming days – but it’s not clear yet when those drops will begin. Israel has repeatedly insisted that there is no restriction on aid deliveries to Gaza.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has reported an additional five deaths due to malnutrition today, bringing the total to 127 since the war began. That number includes 85 children.

Fears are rife within Gaza about the risks involved in air dropping aid. One man tells the BBC: “When aid is dropped from the air, it risks landing directly on tents, potentially causing serious harm, including injury or even death.”

Meanwhile, Palestinians struggle to source food for their families, with one mother saying they are “living with no food or drink, no food, no bread, not even water. We’re craving even water.”

We will shortly be pausing our coverage on the worsening malnutrition crisis in Gaza.

Bowen: Air dropping aid is an act of desperation that won’t end hunger in Gaza

Israel continues to insist that it places no restrictions on aid trucks entering Gaza, an assertion that is not accepted by close allies or the United Nations and other agencies active in Gaza.

“We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to carry out their work in order to take action against starvation. Israel must uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law.”

Israel has offered to allow air drops of aid into Gaza. It’s a gesture towards allies who are issuing strong statements blaming Israel for starvation in Gaza.

In other wars I have seen aid being dropped, both from the aircraft themselves and close up on the ground as it lands.

It is a crude process, that will not on its own do much to end hunger in Gaza. Only a ceasefire and an unrestricted, long term aid operation can do that.

In Iraqi Kurdistan after the 1991 Gulf War the US, UK and others dropped aid from C-130 transport aircraft, mostly army rations, sleeping bags and surplus winter uniforms to tens of thousands living in the open on the sides of mountains. I flew with them and watched British and American airmen dropping aid from the rear cargo ramps of the planes thousands of feet above the people who needed it.

It was welcome enough. But a few days later when I managed to reach the camps in the mountains, I saw young men running into minefields to get aid that landed there. Some were killed and maimed in explosions. I saw families killed when heavy pallets dropped on their tents.

When Mostar was besieged during the war in Bosnia in 1993 I saw pallets of American military “meals ready to eat”, dropped from high altitude, scattered all over the east side of the city that was being constantly shelled. Some aid pallets crashed through roofs that had somehow not been destroyed by artillery attacks.

Air dropping aid is an act of desperation. It can also look good on television, and spread a feel-good factor that something, at last, is being done.

Professionals involved in relief operations regard air dropping aid as a last resort. They use it when any other access is impossible. That’s not the case in Gaza. A short drive north is Ashdod, Israel’s modern container port. A few more hours away is the Jordanian border, which has been used regularly as a supply line for aid for Gaza.

Dropping aid delivers very little. Even big transport planes do not carry as much as a convoy of lorries.

Pallets dropped by parachute often land far from the people who need it. Israel has forced hundreds of thousands of starving Palestinian civilians into a tiny area on the southern coast of Gaza. Most of them live in densely packed tents. It is not clear if there is even an open space for despatchers high in the sky to aim at.

Each pallet will now be fought over by desperate men trying to get food for their families, and by criminal elements who will want to sell it for profit.

Trump says Hamas ‘didn’t want deal’ as US and Israel leave Gaza talks

1 day ago Share Save David Gritten & Jaroslav Lukiv BBC News, in Jerusalem and London Share Save

AFP via Getty Images A Palestinian woman walks past damaged buildings after an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip

US President Donald Trump has said Hamas “didn’t really want to make a deal” on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release, after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams from Qatar. US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday night that the response by the Palestinian armed group to the latest proposal showed “a lack of desire”. He added “alternative options” to bring home the hostages still held by Hamas would be considered – something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed. There was no immediate Hamas response to Trump’s comments, but the group earlier expressed surprise about what it called Witkoff’s “negative” remarks, and an official said the group had been told Israeli negotiators would return to Doha next week.

All sides involved in the talks – including the mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt – acknowledge that wide gaps remain on key issues, including Israeli troop withdrawals, aid distribution, and a permanent cessation of hostilities.

In his statement announcing the withdrawal of the US team from Doha, Witkoff said: “While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be co-ordinated or acting in good faith. “We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza. “It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza.” Netanyahu’s office had earlier said in a statement that Israeli negotiators would leave Qatar for additional consultations “in light of the response conveyed by Hamas”, but it did not give any more details. A senior Israeli official in Doha – speaking on the condition of anonymity – later briefed Israeli journalists that there was “no explosion, no collapse” in the talks, the Times of Israel reported. But the official did criticise what they called Hamas’s “rejectionist and unfortunate approach”, saying its latest response did “not allow progress without a shift” in the group’s positions. On Friday afternoon, Netanyahu wrote on X: “Witkoff got it right. Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal.” “Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region.” At around the same time, Trump told reporters outside the White House: “It was too bad. Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die.” He added: “Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal.” There was no immediate response from Hamas, but the group said in a statement early on Friday that it was “surprised by the negative statements” from Witkoff on its position. “The movement affirms its keenness to continue negotiations and engage in them in a manner that helps overcome obstacles and leads to a permanent ceasefire agreement,” it added. A senior Hamas official later told the BBC that the mediators had informed the group that the negotiations had not collapsed. They said the mediators had also conveyed that the Israeli delegation was expected to return to Doha next week, though no specific date had been set. The two sides have been unable to reach agreement on a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire that would see the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages by Hamas and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. A senior Palestinian official told the BBC on Wednesday that their latest response focused primarily on three key issues: the mechanism for the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza, maps detailing the withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory they have captured, and a guarantee that the ceasefire would lead to a permanent end to the war.

Watch: Protesters pack Tel Aviv square to demand Gaza ceasefire

Jeremy Bowen: Israel’s allies see evidence of war crimes in Gaza mounting up

4 days ago Share Save Jeremy Bowen International editor Share Save

Reuters

Two years ago, Hamas was putting the finishing touches to its plan to attack Israel. In Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed that the Palestinians were a problem to be managed. The real threat, he insisted, was Iran. Netanyahu’s rhetoric opposing Hamas was undimmed, but he had also given permission for Qatar to funnel money into Gaza. It gave him space for his real priorities in foreign policy – confronting Iran and finding a way to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia. In Washington, then-President Joe Biden and his administration believed they were close to hatching a deal between the Saudis and Israelis. It was all a series of illusions. Netanyahu has refused to establish an enquiry to look into the mistakes he made alongside his army and security chiefs that gave Hamas its opportunity to attack with such deadly effect on 7 October 2023. The century-long conflict between Jews and Arabs for control of the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean was unresolved, festering, and about to explode into a war that looks to be as consequential as its other landmarks, in 1948 and 1967. The Middle East has been transformed since 7 October, and almost two years into the war, the conflict in Gaza is at another inflection point.

This has been a hard war for journalists to report. They were taken by surprise on 7 October when Hamas attacked, and since then Israel has banned international journalists from Gaza to report freely. Palestinian journalists inside the Strip have done valiant work, and nearly 200 have been killed doing their jobs. But key facts are clear. Hamas committed a series of war crimes in the attacks it launched on 7 October, killing 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians. Hamas took 251 hostages, of which perhaps 20 who are still being held inside Gaza are believed to be alive. And there is clear evidence that Israel has committed a series of war crimes since then. Israel’s list includes the starvation of Gaza’s civilians, the failure to protect them during military operations in which Israeli forces killed tens of thousands of innocents, and the wanton destruction of entire towns in a manner that is not proportionate to the military risk Israel faces. Netanyahu and his former defence minister are the subject of arrest warrants for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court. They insist on their innocence. Israel has also condemned a legal process at the International Court of Justice which alleges that it is committing genocide against Palestinians. Israel denies the accusations, and claims they are antisemitic “blood libels”. Israel is running out of friends. Allies who rallied around after the 7 October Hamas attacks have lost patience with Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Even Israel’s most important ally, Donald Trump, is reported to be losing patience with Netanyahu after being taken by surprise when the Israeli leader ordered the bombing of Damascus – attacking Syria’s new regime, which Trump has recognised and encouraged. Other western allies of Israel ran out of patience months ago. Another joint statement, condemning Israel’s actions, was signed on 21 July by foreign ministers from the UK, much of the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They used strong words to describe civilian suffering in Gaza, and the failing and deadly aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that Israel introduced to replace tried and trusted methods used by the UN and leading global relief groups. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,” the statement said. “The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. “The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”

Reuters The Israeli military launched a ground assault on Deir al-Balah on Monday, triggering a fresh wave of displacement