War in Gaza: humanitarian aid drops, a drop of water in an ocean of distress?
It is on the Jordanian Abdallah II military base in Malka, thirty kilometers from Amman, that humanitarian airdrop operations continue for the populations of the Gaza Strip.
In addition to the three Jordanian military planes, there were three American planes, an Egyptian plane and a French plane.
It is the largest airdrop operation since the start of the war in October.
Loading humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza aboard a US cargo plane, March 5, 2024. via REUTERS - US Central Command via
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A few hours before takeoff, it is the same ritual for the thirty air soldiers of the Jordanian army.
Before the airdrop operation on Gaza, several soldiers wrote little words on the packages intended for the children of Gaza.
“
So I wrote ‘on behalf of our children to the children of Gaza,’”
explains Mohamed, a Jordanian soldier, speaking to our correspondent in Amman,
Mohamed Errami
.
From Faad, from Rola, from Nordine, from Soliman, from Ali... we say that we think of them and we just hope that our voices reach them
.
»
In the packages, there was pasta, rice, but also flour and typical Palestinian dishes like
magloubeh
.
After almost twenty days of dropping, the Jordanian army requested logistical support from the French, Emirati, Egyptian and American armies to have more planes and increase the number of parachutes from Amman.
The French plane comes from Évreux, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Rudy, one of the leaders of the French army in Jordan, and “
everything that ultimately allows humanitarian aid to be placed on the ground comes from Toulouse.
Everything that will be in the boxes was donated by Jordan, it is Jordan who manages this part.
We take care of the container and the plane to allow it to be dropped off in Gaza.
On this operation, clearly, it is 100% Jordan.
»
During the flight, which lasted two hours, the pilot initially headed towards the coast of Tel Aviv, before following the Mediterranean Sea and heading due north towards Gaza.
The drop lasted a few moments.
Operations must continue until a solution for a ceasefire is announced, explained a senior Jordanian army official.
An inevitable famine
But the United Nations says famine is "
all but inevitable
" in Gaza, while the World Health Organization said it saw horrific scenes of children starving to death in the territory's north during a recent mission. aid in two hospitals, reports Agence France Presse.
Gazans face severe shortages of food, water and medicine.
To stem a catastrophic humanitarian crisis after almost five months of conflict,
Joe Biden
yesterday called for "more aid" in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying that Israel had "no excuses" to restrict the entry of convoys waiting at the border with Egypt.
Also listen: Aid drops in Gaza: “A way of clearing one's conscience and masking a lack of political will”
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Sabrina Singh, said Monday that between 30 and 120 trucks per day had delivered aid to Gaza last week.
“
It is clearly insufficient to feed the population
,” she declared, while specifying that the airdrops were intended to complement and not replace the aid delivered by land.
Read alsoIn Gaza, NGOs sound the alarm on the lack of humanitarian aid and the risk of famine
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