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

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, which 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 2.2 million and left Gaza without all basics of life.

READ: ‘Israel is starving our people’ says Palestine’s UN envoy

The daily requirement for Gaza is around 500 truckloads of aid, which can bring in an amount that dwarfs what can come through airdrops.

In February, Israel only allowed an average of less than 100 trucks a day, with a marginal increase seen in the first few days of March, according to UN figures.

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.

He said the planes are dropping boxes with three meals per person for a day, while from trucks a family can get a kilo of flour that can last for at least two days.

There is also the issue of costs, with airdrops being exponentially more expensive than the land routes, said Al-Amoudi.

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 2.3 million experience acute food shortage, according to aid groups, who have also warned that airdrops are a measure of last resort.

General acute malnutrition in Gaza has reached 16.2 per cent, exceeding the 15 per cent critical threshold set by the World Health Organisation.

At least 16 children have died from dehydration and malnutrition in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

In the current scenario, Al-Amoudi said airdrops will not be enough to avert the looming famine in Gaza, warning that there will be more deaths by starvation unless Israel opens land routes.

He also stressed the need for more coordination on the distribution of aid, saying it should be done with the cooperation of all sides concerned and not just based on Israel’s decisions.

OPINION: The ‘Flour Massacre’ and Israel’s licence to kill, maim and massacre

He suggested that a permanent land corridor should be set up for aid transport, which should be directed to all parts of Gaza, including the worst-affected northern parts.

A political show

One of the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in South Africa’s genocide case is that Israel must allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Aid groups and rights experts have warned that Israel is directly violating the ICJ order by continuing its restrictions on aid entering through land routes.

On top of that, the Israeli army killed at least 127 Palestinians and wounded over 760 last week, when it opened fire on Palestinians trying to collect aid.

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 Al-Amoudi.

“By allowing airdropping aid directly to people, Israel marginalises Hamas’s authority and aims to prevent them from ruling Gaza,” he added.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.