More political than effective: How do Gaza airdrops compare to aid via land?

Ankara, Turkey - The conversation about Gaza in recent days has been focused on Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon in its deadly war, and the trickle of aid being let through via airdrops.

Countries like the US, Belgium, Egypt, Qatar, France, UAE, Jordan and the Netherlands have airdropped humanitarian aid meant to offer some relief to millions of Palestinians in a devastated Gaza where there is no food or clean water.

The US carried out its first airdrop last Saturday of about 38,000 meals, followed by a second operation in coordination with Jordan on Tuesday that included over 36,000 meals. According to the Israeli government, over 550 packages carrying humanitarian aid were airdropped over Gaza over the last week.

But by all counts, and as humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned, the amount is nowhere near the needs created by Israel’s deadly war, which has now killed nearly 31,700 Palestinians, displaced some 2.2mn and left Gaza without all basics of life. The daily requirement for Gaza is around 500 truckloads of aid, which can bring in an amount that dwarfs what can come through airdrops.

One truck can carry four times the amount of humanitarian aid than a plane - 80 tons to an aircraft’s 20 tons, according to Moath al-amoudi, a specialist in international aid at the Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco. Another factor he pointed out was what exactly is being airdropped into Gaza.

“All the aid dropped by planes contains daily meals. This not strategic aid. They are not dropping grain or long-term products,” he told Anadolu.

Airdrops offer a ‘temporary solution’ as they do not address the root or origin of the problem, he emphasised.

More than half a million people in Gaza are facing starvation, while all 2.3mn experience acute food shortage, according to aid groups, who have also warned that airdrops are a measure of last resort.

Al-amoudi said Israel’s sole motivation in permitting airdrops is to mislead the international community into thinking that it is allowing in humanitarian aid. If Israel is sincere about delivering aid, it will allow proper and continuous deliveries, and mainly from land, he said.

Another Israeli goal is to exclude Hamas from the process by putting desperate people in a position where they have to directly collect the aid, said AlAmoudi.