Half a loaf, they say, is better than none and in Gaza, a slice of the bread or crumbs are treasured.
Gazans have no choice than to grab whatever amount of aid and supplies, no matter how small, with both hands and feet even.
It is no secret the Gaza is reeling under a drastic humanitarian crisis and effective in alleviating the huge humanitarian need on the ground is pertinent.
Seeing as conditions are worsening by each passing hour, a few nations took the initiative of airdropping aid, a step which clearly not doing much to assuage the bleak situation.
Airdrops can not carry as much aid as a truck would but since it has become literally impossible for trucks to reach Gaza quickly enough, they seem like a better option.
There seems to be no distribution plan for airdropped aid creating more harm and more chaos in Gaza as people rush to get supplies.
The U.S President, Joe Biden announced earlier on Friday, March 1, 2024 that the U.S would soon start airdropping aid to Gaza.
True to his words, US officials said that three C-130 planes dropped 66 pallets of food, containing a total of 38,000 meals on Saturday, March 2, 2024, the first of a series of air drops coordinated with Jordan.
Even though, this is better than none, they will do almost nothing to address the scale of need.
In north Gaza, where hunger is so widespread that people have been eating animal food for weeks, there are 300,000 people.
The U.S aid parachute even if shared equally there would just provide a single meal to one in every 10 residents.
Looking at situation and how small of help the quantity of airdropped aid is, the U.S has to do more such as coaxing Israel into opening more crossings for aid to enter the besieged enclave.
With Ramadan just around the corner, U.S should use its leverage to get more aid into Gaza or better still, a truce.
Oxfam labelled the Biden administration’s plans to airdrop aid into Gaza, as an attempt to assuage the guilty consciences of US officials.
Scott Paul, who leads Oxfam’s US government advocacy work, said in a statement on X, “Oxfam does not support US airdrops to Gaza, which would mostly serve to relieve the guilty consciences of senior US officials whose policies are contributing to the ongoing atrocities and risk of famine in Gaza.”
“While Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the absolute brink, dropping a paltry, symbolic amount of aid into Gaza with no plan for its safe distribution would not help and be deeply degrading to Palestinians,” he said.
“Instead of indiscriminate airdrops in Gaza, the US should cut the flow of weapons to Israel that are used in indiscriminate attacks, push for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages, and insist that Israel uphold its duty to provide humanitarian aid, access, and other basic services.”
Scott Paul
U.S Defends Israel
White House National Security Spokesperson, John Kirby was pointedly asked why the U.S continues to support Israel when its restrictions on aid into Gaza are the reason the US has to airdrop supplies into the Palestinian territory.
Kirby remarked, “Israel itself has tried to help with the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as I said, they tried airdrops themselves just a week or so ago on their own accord.”
“It’s a war zone and there’s nowhere else for them to go. It’s not like in some other conflicts where they can easily flee,” Kirby said, blaming Hamas for creating the current circumstances in Gaza.
“There’d be no need for airdrops if Hamas hadn’t chosen to break what was a ceasefire in place on the 6th of October,” Kirby asserted.
Really what Gaza needs is just more crossings and more trucks need to come through every single day.
President Biden should opt to use Washington’s leverage as Israel’s principal arms supplier, and most important international ally, to force it to open up more land access for aid.
READ ALSO: Hamas Labels Attack On Aid Seekers “Insistence On Genocide”
