Israel to Allow to Allow Humanitarian Airdrops Over Gaza
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.
Experts criticized the drops as largely symbolic and warned that they were unlikely to provide enough aid to the roughly two million Palestinians in Gaza, who are in dire conditions after 21 months of war.
Nearly one in three people in the territory is coping with food insecurity, according to the United Nations' World Food Program. The Gaza health authorities say that acute malnutrition is rising and that children have died.
Airdrops are extremely expensive and typically as a last resort, said Juliette Touma, the chief spokeswoman for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. Thousands of truckloads of aid, she said, were awaiting Israeli approval to enter Gaza.
'Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders' Ms. Touma asked. 'It's much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper.'
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