Bundeswehr emergency aid for the civilian population: Air force launched the first drop of relief supplies over the Gaza Strip

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A German C130J Super Hercules transport aircraft stands on the plate at Base aérienne 105 in Evreux

Photo: Jane Schmidt / dpa

The Bundeswehr has launched an operation to drop urgently needed relief supplies over the Gaza Strip.

According to SPIEGEL information, a C130 transport plane took off from a military base near the Jordanian capital Amman shortly before ten a.m. German time to drop the first pallets with a total of four tons of food over Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The relief supplies are provided by the World Food Program (WFB) and are paid for by the Federal Foreign Office (AA).

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) approved the drop on Wednesday.

The C130 transport aircraft set off from Évreux, France, where they are based, towards Jordan and arrived on Thursday.

Close coordination with France and Israel

According to the military, the transport planes can each take nine large pallets of food and medicine on board, which will then be dropped by parachute over the Gaza Strip.

The Air Force has coordinated closely with France on the details of the mission, as the NATO partner already has experience with such flights.

In addition, the operation is closely coordinated with the Israeli military, as the airspace over Gaza is controlled by Israel.

The cargo should only be dropped if no damage to the ground is foreseeable.

The background is that there is always a certain residual risk when opening a parachute.

There should be a risk assessment before every drop.

Specifically, it's about the altitude from which the drop takes place.

If it is higher, the threat of small arms fire could be reduced.

With this campaign, the Bundeswehr is taking part in the airlift for Gaza, which was initiated by Jordan.

Other partners such as the USA and France are already taking part.

According to aid organizations, the situation of the people in the area is becoming increasingly desperate.

According to the UN, there is a risk of a hunger crisis if aid deliveries by truck are not expanded.

Around 2.2 million people live in the Gaza Strip.

International pressure has been growing for weeks for Israel to allow more aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip.

The USA also announced that it would build a temporary port so that the area could be supplied with food and other goods from the sea.

However, since the construction will take several weeks, observers believe that dropping relief supplies from the air is urgently needed.

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