[News] Airdropping aid: Humiliation and risk without relief

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Airdropping aid: Humiliation and risk without relief

Tuesday 29-July-2025 - 
https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/07/29/344330/

<https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/07/29/344330/#>
<https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/07/29/344330/#>
<https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/07/29/344330/#>
<https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2025/07/29/344330/#>
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GAZA, (PIC)

As famine in Gaza worsens into an existential threat for more than two 
million people, the much-publicized “airdrop operations” of humanitarian 
aid appear more like crumbs thrown from the sky than a lifeline for a 
population starving under bombardment and siege.

In separate interviews with the Palestinian Information Center, several 
residents of Gaza expressed their anger over what they described as a 
humiliating and dangerous method of delivering aid, stressing that 
airdrops neither curb hunger nor preserve dignity. On the contrary, they 
exacerbate chaos and pose serious risks.

We fight over scraps falling from the sky

Walid Al-Masri, a displaced man living in a central Gaza camp, said, 
“Every time aid is dropped from planes, we fight underneath it, some 
people run, others fall, and many leave empty-handed. Is the world 
satisfied watching us kill each other for a bag of flour?”

He added, “Gaza rejects this form of aid. It is beneath human dignity 
and solves nothing, it only deepens the crisis.”

Danger from every direction

Sami Abdullah, a father of four living in a tent pitched over the ruins 
of his home in northern Gaza, warned of the grave dangers of airdrops, 
“I saw parachutes fall directly on tents, one of them landed on an 
entire family. These aren’t aid packages, they’re food-wrapped projectiles.”

With sorrow, he added: “What kind of logic justifies throwing food onto 
the heads of displaced people? Some die under the aid, not just from 
hunger.”

>From the sky to street gangs

Elder Ali Abu Al-Ata also spoke to the Palestinian Information Center, 
describing how gangs have begun forming around airdrop zones, looting 
supplies before they reach the needy.

“We’ve seen it with our own eyes, people blocking the hungry from 
reaching the aid. It’s chaos, a complete absence of organization, and a 
dangerous lack of the most basic principles of fair distribution,” he said.

He also pointed out that some airdrops land in totally destroyed areas 
where no one can reach them:
“In Al-Karama neighborhood, parachutes landed on the rubble of 
demolished homes. Who would dare go digging through that wreckage? This 
is just an air show, it does nothing to change the reality of the 
catastrophe.”

Clear UN criticism

The UN agency UNRWA has strongly criticized the continued reliance on 
airdrops, saying they are no real solution to the famine and cannot 
compare to delivering aid via land convoys.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communications, told The New York 
Times, “Why are we resorting to airdrops when thousands of trucks loaded 
with aid are waiting at the border for permission to enter? Airdrops are 
costly and ineffective, they don’t address the root problem.”

She confirmed that over 6,000 UN aid trucks remain stuck at border 
crossings, blocked from entry by the Israeli occupation. She emphasized 
the only way to save lives is through, “Lifting the siege, opening the 
crossings, and guaranteeing safe and dignified passage for humanitarian 
convoys.”

UN: A distraction

UNRWA’s Commissioner-General labeled the airdrops a “deliberate 
distraction” and “a tactic to divert attention from the real disaster 
unfolding in the Strip.” He said that the famine is not caused by a lack 
of aid, but by the siege and the obstruction of its delivery.

Recently, the Israeli military announced it would “allow” limited 
airdrops of aid and implement what it called “tactical pauses” in some 
military operations to facilitate relief access.

But these measures have failed to convince either Gaza’s residents or 
international humanitarian organizations. They are widely seen as 
efforts to ease growing international pressure, while the UN continues 
to warn of the looming threat of mass death, especially among more than 
100,000 children.

A deepening tragedy

Since the Israeli assault began in October 2023, Gaza has endured one of 
the worst humanitarian catastrophes in modern history, marked by total 
famine, relentless bombing, and unprecedented levels of displacement.

According to Palestinian health authorities, the war has so far caused 
over 204,000 casualties, dead and wounded, most of them women and 
children. More than 11,000 remain missing, while hundreds of thousands 
live in harsh and degrading displacement conditions.

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