Israel has said foreign countries can drop aid into Gaza from today.
A senior IDF official told Sky News on Friday: “Starting today, Israel will allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza.
“Starting this afternoon, the WCK organisation began reactivating its kitchens.”
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Parachutes drop supplies into the northern Gaza Strip in March 2024. File pic: AP
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‘Many more deaths unless Israelis allow food in’
Humanitarian aid organisation World Central Kitchen paused its operation in Gaza in November after a number of its workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike last year.
Aid workers in Gaza – who help provide food, medicine and shelter for the millions displaced there – have been affected by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – an Israel and US-backed organisation – has been distributing food packages in Gaza since the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the territory.
Naima Abu Ful holds her malnourished 2-year-old child, Yazan, in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Pic: AP
More than 1,000 people have reportedly been killed while trying to receive food aid since then, according to the UN, with the territory facing a starvation crisis.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that nine people have died of malnutrition in the past 24 hours.
In a post on Facebook, the ministry said a total of 122 people, including 83 children, have died because of a lack of food since the war began.
In the first two weeks of July, the UN children’s agency UNICEF treated 5,000 children facing acute malnutrition in the enclave.
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
On Friday the UN warned the enclave was running out of specialised therapeutic foods to treat malnourished children.
Aid was air-dropped into Gaza from military planes last year by countries, including Jordan, the US and the UK via the Royal Air Force, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough.
It is also a potentially dangerous way to deliver supplies, and in March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and a parcel fell on them.
Israel bows international pressure
Israel says there is no famine in Gaza – so why is it sanctioning an urgent international aid drop by air, particularly when doing so safely also means having a temporary pause in its bombardment of Gaza.
The reality is – whatever the public message – Israel must be feeling the intense pressure from the international community and global aid organisations to ease its blockade.
The UN Secretary-General has said starvation is knocking on every door in Gaza. The F word – famine – is even being talked about on Israeli television channels.
We understand the Jordanian government is discussing playing a role in the aid drop and we already know that the UN says there is enough food stockpiled in Egypt and Jordan to feed Gazans for three months.
Yet it hasn’t reached hungry mouths in Gaza because Israel stands accused of making it simply too difficult to transport aid by road around a dangerous conflict zone for organisations, including the UN, which are trying to step in in the face of claims that the main sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation have turned into ‘death traps’.
Dropping large aid packages may be the quickest way to get food into Gaza, given the circumstances, but it is also very dangerous, because of the scramble that ensues amongst people trying to reach the supplies.
However, this sign of movement in the aid crisis comes after a desperate week for Gazans fighting to survive hunger in a war zone.
Israel will remind the world it stopped the old ways of aid distribution because it says aid was falling into the hands of the militant group Hamas, still holding 20 living Israeli hostages.
There have also been reports of people drowning while trying to reach supplies that had fallen into the sea.
Israel has been at war with Hamas in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group rampaged through southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, and taking around 250 hostage, on 7 October 2023.
It has denied there is a food shortage I Gaza and claims it had to take control of the supply and distribution of aid because Hamas fighters have been stealing aid before it reached civilians.
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‘Man-made starvation’ in Gaza
The IDF said in a statement on Friday it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians, particularly in the manner described. For the sake of clarity, the army’s binding orders prohibit forces operating in the area from intentionally firing at civilians.
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“We are aware of reports of casualties among those who arrived at the aid distribution sites. These incidents are under examination by the relevant IDF authorities. Any allegation of a violation of the law or regulations will be thoroughly investigated, including taking appropriate action if necessary.
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Aid waiting to be distributed in Gaza
“The IDF is working to facilitate and ease the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) at the designated distribution centres, as well as through other international actors. These efforts are being conducted under difficult and complex operational conditions. As part of its operational conduct, the IDF draws lessons and conducts systematic learning processes in order to improve its operational response.”
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