Egypt resumes aid airdrops for Gaza for the first time in 6 months amid famine crisis

Egypt resumed its dropping of humanitarian relief in Gaza via military aircraft on Tuesday, for the first time in over six months as the starvation crisis in the enclave sweeps through the war-battered enclave.

Aircraft departed from Cairo’s International Airport and flew over the Gaza Strip, dropping aid in central areas specifically Deir al-Balah, sources told The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

The aid was delivered to Gaza via aircraft in a bid to circumvent security obstacles hindering the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip via border crossings.

On Sunday, aid trucks had began lining up at the Rafah crossing along the Gaza-Egypt border to enter the enclave via the Israeli-controlled Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, following a tactical pause in fighting declared by Israel amid international pressure to tackle the hunger crisis.

Israel’s so-called humanitarian pause, however, has been slammed by Hamas, who say permanently lifting the siege and ending the war are the only ways to prevent Gazans from starving.

The move came a day after Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a televised plea to his US counterpart Donald Trump to stop the war in Gaza and to allow the entry of aid to "end this suffering" that Palestinians in the Strip have been subject to for almost 22 months.

"I direct a special message to him, please exert all efforts to end this war. I  believe the time has come to end this war."

Egypt’s aid airdrops come amid a broader regional and international effort to alleviate the crisis, as the UAE and Jordan have also conducted similar airdrops. Spain on Monday said it will carry out a similar initiative. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the airdrops will take place on Friday from Jordan, via Spanish aircraft.

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday said that two of the country’s aircraft could fly aid airdrop missions from Jordan to Gaza as soon as Wednesday.

Despite such efforts, doctors and NGOs have warned that the ongoing aid deliveries are insufficient to stave off the ongoing famine, which has killed at least 147 Palestinians, including 88 children.

The World Food Programme estimates the planes participating in the airdrops cannot deliver more than 20 to 30 tonnes of aid per flight, while the Gaza Strip needs at least 500 to 600 supply trucks daily to meet the minimum needs of the population.

Additionally, sources familiar with relief operations told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the load carried by a single plane does not often exceed that of a single truck, explaining that "all these airdrops combined cannot compensate for the importance and effectiveness of trucks entering through the land crossings".

Additional, airdrops have been criticised over the course of the war for posing danger to Palestinians attempt to get their hands on aid.

Gaza’s media office also added that most of the airdrops are taking place in areas designated militarily as "red zones," where direct confrontations and combat operations are taking place.

Egypt has been criticised over the course of the war for not opening its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, to allow the entry of aid, amid a spat with Israel.

In recent days, amid the increasing starvation levels in Gaza, activists and protesters have demonstrated outside several global Egyptian embassies, urging the reopening of the crossings.