Members of the Jordanian Armed Forces air drop aid parcels along the Gaza coast, in cooperation with Egypt, Qatar, France and the UAE, on Feb. 27.Jehad Shelbak/Reuters
International humanitarian leaders say the fact that governments are resorting to airdropping much-needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza is evidence of a continuing failure to get supplies to people in need, even as Canada considers joining the effort.
A video posted by CNN on Tuesday showed people in Gaza swimming desperately to packages that had plunged into the ocean after a plane carrying an aid airdrop reportedly missed its target. Chaos unfolded on a nearby beach as men wielded bats and people fought over the supplies.
Gaza health authorities said more than 100 Palestinians had been shot dead by Israeli forces on Thursday while waiting for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel said many of the victims had been run over by aid trucks.
Aid organizations have struggled to deliver supplies to Gazans for months, as Israel has waged war in response to an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip. These organizations have said Israeli forces often prevent their trucks and convoys from reaching civilians, though the Israeli government has denied blocking aid.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, an average of nearly 98 aid trucks a day entered Gaza this month. Before the war began, about 500 trucks a day were crossing into Gaza.
Without the ability to bring aid in overland, Jordan, France and other countries have been dropping supplies from the air. This is a rare tactic that aid leaders say is used only when a population can’t be reached because an adversary is standing in the way, or because of a natural disaster.
The Department of Global Affairs said in a statement Thursday that the Canadian government is considering joining the effort to deliver aid by air. Some aid organizations welcomed the gesture, but said this is not the way to get supplies to civilians.
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, who formerly ran a team that co-ordinated airdrops at the United States Agency for International Development, said such drops are an absolute last resort.
He raised the deadly incident at the aid distribution site. The reason people are swimming to retrieve aid packages and swarming aid trucks is that Israel has made getting supplies to northern Gaza impossible, he said.
“When a humanitarian looks at an airdrop photo what they see is failure,” he added. “They see a failure to get aid in at scale, they see a failure to enable safe access for the kinds of aid that would be much more effective. And I think that’s the light in which this has to be seen.”
Lauren Ravon, the executive director of Oxfam Canada, said Canada’s decision to consider joining the effort is a sign of good intent, but that there are better ways to help Gazans who are starving to death.
“I think in many ways it’s a distraction and a lack of accountability for Israel’s legal obligation to ensure that aid reaches civilians in Gaza,” she said, referencing international law.
She said Israel is deliberately closing border crossings that used to be open to aid.
“Having these airdrops is kind of symbolic and grandiose, but actually it’s degrading for civilian populations, people having to run into the water,” she added.
She said airdrops also undermine the well-established aid architecture that has been in place for decades. Oxfam has truckloads of supplies that are blocked at the border, she noted, and airdrops often don’t reach the most vulnerable.
Danny Glenwright, the president and chief executive officer of Save the Children Canada, echoed Ms. Ravon. There is existing architecture in place to deliver aid, and airdrops risk undermining that, he said.
“There’s no legitimate justification for the existing routes that are there to be blocked or restricted,” he said. He called on the international community and the government of Israel to do everything in their power to use the pre-existing aid delivery routes.
Mr. Glenwright said the situation has become much more dire, particularly as funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees dries up.
“We are seeing children die of starvation already in Gaza,” he said, adding that aid groups rely on UNRWA to store aid at warehouses, support schools, provide cash assistance and manage fuel allocations.
With a report from Reuters