Through the portholes of the military plane, the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv, its glass towers and its long beach and then the almost turquoise blue waves of the Mediterranean who sparkle in this summer day. Two Jordanian soldiers concentrated despite the engines of the engines and the darkness report the count while the plane continues its descent.
Only a few seconds. The northern coast of Gaza appears, striking by its destruction after 22 months of war: a beige and gray extent of often ripped buildings, ruins of shaved neighborhoods, bombing craters and a multitude of tents on arid soil.
The plane turns south of the city of Gaza, stabilizes at 2,000 feet and flies over the main artery of the band, the Salaheddine road.
Finally, the huge rear door opens, gaping on a devastated territory. The release operation starts while the wind rushes into the cabin. A package is swept away, then two, then three. The parachutes open and the cargoes start their dizzying descent.
In just a few minutes, around twenty packages of a total of three tonnes are thrown. In the next hour, four other planes, the United Arab Emirates, France and Germany, will in turn deliver a little over 30 tonnes, mainly foodstuffs such as rice and baby milk. The operation lasted just over two hours.
Insufficient, but essential
In the last days, a few countries, including Canada, have dropped nearly 340 tonnes of food in the hope of limiting growing famine for the more than 2 million Gazaouis, in the context where a cease-fire between the Islamist group Hamas and Israel seems distant.
Although strongly criticized by the UN and NGOs, deemed insufficient, dangerous and costly, these operations are considered essential and exceptional by several countries.
Gaza “knows a humanitarian disaster that goes beyond everything we have known in modern history,” said the king of Jordan, Abdallah II, on July 30.
More than 61,000 people have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, managed by Hamas, since the start of the War of Israel in the Enclave, initiated following the deadly attack on October 7 and the hostage -taking of 251 people by Hamas. Several judges, experts and groups for human rights, including Israelis, now describe the policies of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applied in Gaza as similar to a genocide.
For several weeks, the UN and more than 100 NGOs have launched the alert on the risk of generalized famine. In the first two weeks of July, around 5,000 children under the age of 5 were hospitalized for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. Twenty-four died.
Israel began to block humanitarian aid entry in March, but authorized it in limited quantities since the end of May. Accusing Hamas of stealing food managed by the UN and NGOs, Israel has subsequently preferred to set up a new Israeli-American organization, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
But the distribution of this limited aid regularly turns to chaos, according to humanitarian organizations on site. The UN estimates that around 1400 people have been killed since May by going to seek food, most of them by the Israeli army, which the latter denies.
Prime Minister Netanyahu denied on July 27, the existence of a famine in Gaza, but Israel authorized the resumption of essential foodstuffs under international pressure. Israel, however, continues to limit the entrance to aid by truck.
Humanitarian organizations face “serious difficulties” for their medical deliveries and terrestrial foodstuffs “due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli government,” said World Affairs Canada on Monday following a drop of 21,600 pounds of aid described as “exceptional measures”.
Although fast, air drops are expensive and can be dangerous. Five people were killed by the fall of a package whose parachute did not open in March 2024.
The planes also carry relatively few foods, 10 tonnes against 20 on average for trucks. The UN considers that it would be necessary to allow the entrance to 600 trucks per day. About 6000 trucks are pending at the Gaza border.
According to a coordination organization of the Israeli Defense Ministry, 300 trucks entered the band on Monday. Hamas said only 95 had arrived.
Above Gaza, the dozen Jordanian soldiers do not have time to see their packages landing on the ground. The plane has already left for the Mediterranean Sea, then above Israel.
“We try to do the most you can, bring the most and prepare well, but these flights are stressful,” said a Jordanian soldier who is not allowed to speak.
A little over 30 minutes later, the Hercules C-130 emptied of its goods arises at a military base north of Amman. The soldiers blow, some smoke a cigarette on the burning tarmac. Tomorrow morning, they will be standing again early in the morning to load pallets and prepare a new journey. The neighboring humanitarian aid warehouse does not seem to be full. Aerial drops are planned for at least two weeks, according to Jordanian authorities.
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