Gaza airdrops take huge effort, don’t solve hunger crisis: WSJ
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A Wall Street Journal report reveals the inefficiency of sending aid by plane, stressing it is "expensive, dangerous, and insufficient."
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Parachutes drop humanitarian aid into the northern Gaza Strip on March 11, 2024. (AP)
The Wall Street Journal reported that sending aid by plane to the Gaza Strip is expensive, dangerous, and insufficient.
In a report on Wednesday, the newspaper quoted relief groups saying that only large-scale truck deliveries can prevent famine.
According to the newspaper, the flight carrying aid from Jordan to Gaza took two hours, cost about $30,000, and required a crew of nine experienced individuals. The newspaper adds that its payload of 3.2 tons was barely enough to feed 40,000 people in the besieged area.
The United States, along with its Arab and European allies, has intensified humanitarian airdrops this month. However, these efforts have had minimal impact on the starvation crisis, which was instigated by the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
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Even the largest airdrops rarely equal the 16.5 tons of aid transported by a typical truck from Egypt to Gaza, and at a fraction of the cost.
Gaza relied on an average of 500 delivery trucks per day before the war, according to the report.
On another note, Dave Harden, managing director of Georgetown Strategy Group and former USAID mission director to the West Bank and Gaza, said the airdrops are "expensive, dangerous, and ineffective" in blunting the war in Gaza.
He stressed that the Biden administration was using them to “paper over a massive policy failure” in not doing more to pressure the Israeli government to address humanitarian needs.
Earlier this week, the Government Media Office in Gaza called for the immediate and urgent opening of land crossings to allow thousands of tons of aid to enter, to prevent the deepening famine crisis in the Gaza Strip, especially in the north.
Commenting on the casualties resulting from the random air drops of aid, which led to the killing of 5 people and injury of several others, the office reiterated that such operations are not effective and are not the optimal way to deliver aid.
Five Palestinians, including two children, were killed on Friday due to an aid airdrop mishap, where at least one parachute malfunctioned, causing a package to fall on them. The tragic incident occurred in the al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza at approximately 11:30 am local time.
