They are black, gray, pink, and we can see them from very far away: parachutes of food have been falling for more than a month on the devastated north of Gaza, humanitarian aid eagerly awaited but controversial, particularly since the death of 18 Palestinians on the ground.
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Hamas authorities called to “immediately cease these operations” and to open land access to aid, after announcing the death on Monday of 18 people, including 12 drowned while trying to recover supplies dropped by plane.
The sea was rough, they did not know how to swim, witnesses said: “when the parachutes fell into the water, young men and boys began to wade in their direction. And unfortunately some did not return,” Ouday Nassar told AFP, returning the next day to the same al-Soudanyia beach, north of Gaza City, to try his luck again.
On Monday, in addition to the 12 people who drowned, six others died in stampedes also linked to the arrival of aid from the sky, according to the authorities.
On March 8, five people were killed and ten injured by falling packages, which fell “like rockets” on the al-Shati refugee camp, when the parachute did not open, witnesses and hospital sources.
“We have always warned the countries carrying out these operations of the danger, because some fall into the sea, some in the Palestinian territories and some in dangerous areas, endangering the lives of starving civilians,” according to the press office. of the Hamas government.
“A primary concern is the safety of the recipients,” Jeremy Anderson, lieutenant colonel of the American Air Force, recently explained to AFP during a mission: “We ensure that if the parachute does not does not open, it ends up at sea and therefore does not hurt anyone.”
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The international community, due to a lack of sufficient supplies by road, launched an airdrop in February, while admitting that this was not enough, at a time when famine was threatening in the Gaza Strip.
Israel declared war on Hamas in retaliation for the attack carried out on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement which resulted in the death of more than 1,160 people on the Israeli side, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
The Israeli military campaign on Gaza has left nearly 32,500 dead, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government in Gaza.
Conveyed by Jordanian, Egyptian, French or American planes, the pallets are marked with small flags of the donors: United Arab Emirates, France, Belgium, Germany, United States… Inside, for example, on Monday there were 46,000 military rations , according to the US Army. Destination: 300,000 people remained in the north, where trucks from the southern entry point find it most difficult.
In total, the Israeli government agency Cogat recorded 44 airdrops, or 2,000 loads.
But it cannot replace the road, in general opinion.
“The idea is that the situation is so desperate that any help is welcome, provided it arrives safely,” said James Elder, Unicef spokesperson from Rafah (south) on Tuesday.
“But it should not be a diversion: food aid is usually dropped when people are isolated, hundreds of kilometers from anywhere. Here, the help we need is barely a few kilometers away: we have to use the roads!”
Calls are growing for Israel to open road crossings and reduce restrictions, with the person blaming a disorganization of distribution inside. According to the UN, before the war, at least 500 trucks entered daily, compared to 150 today.
Airdrops “sound like an easy temporary measure… But it's not the solution,” says Shira Efron, researcher at the American think tank Israel Policy Forum. For her, “it’s also a way for countries to show that they are doing something.”
A source from an international NGO present in Gaza does not say anything else: “It is a small means of indirect pressure on Israel, and publicity for the countries which do this, notably the United States, knowing that this does not is of little or no use.”
Washington said Tuesday its intention to continue, while “working to increase the arrival of assistance by land.”
According to the US military, a ship from Virginia is also on its way to install a floating pier in Gaza.
To date, only one boat has arrived, on March 15, from Cyprus, towing 200 tonnes of food.
This “boat carried the equivalent of 12 trucks,” underlines Mr. Elder, of Unicef, when “hundreds of trucks are waiting on the road, on the other side of the Gaza border!”