Gaza’s Civil Defense Decries Airdrop Aid Tactics
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Gaza's Civil Defense spokesman has criticized several countries' decision to airdrop aid over the Gaza Strip, stating that it has led to casualties instead of alleviating the famine crisis.
“The method of using the dropping of aid via international relief planes has not limited the famine crisis suffered by our people in the Gaza Strip, but has increased the number of victims looking for a living,” said Mahmoud Basal in a statement.
Continuation of this relief method has resulted in further casualties and injuries among citizens. Basal emphasized the urgent need for alternative solutions to demonstrate the inefficacy of airdrops in providing relief to famine-stricken citizens in Gaza.
Five people were killed on Friday in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza when a US aid parachute failed to deploy properly, causing a package to fall on them. Among the victims were two boys, with 11 others injured, aged between 30 and 50 years old.
Ardi Imseis, a former UNRWA official, has questioned the US proposal to send humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea when the Israeli regime has six land crossings that could be utilized for aid delivery "at the necessary scale."
"As the occupying power, Israel is obligated to provide humanitarian and relief supplies to the civilian population in Gaza," said Imseis, a professor at Queens University, Canada. He expressed surprise that more pressure was not being exerted on Israel to provide adequate humanitarian aid.
Imseis raised concerns about the distribution of aid through the proposed maritime route, questioning who would receive the aid, particularly since UNRWA, accused by Israel of seeking dismantlement, is the only agency capable of efficiently handling aid logistics.
A senior UN aid official cautioned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza, a quarter of the population, face catastrophic food insecurity, with one in six children under two in the north suffering from severe malnutrition.
Humanitarian agencies have been warning for months of a critical humanitarian situation in Gaza if a lasting truce is not achieved, according to Meg Sattler, CEO of Ground Truth Solutions.
Sattler highlighted the urgent need for humanitarian law to be respected in Gaza and for land borders to be opened for aid access, emphasizing that 97% of people in Gaza reported rationing food to survive, skipping meals, and drinking contaminated water.
"People are starving to death now," she warned. "When people reach this level of hunger, intervention is needed within hours, not weeks."
