Aerial display in Gaza; aid from the sky, disaster on the ground

According to Shahab News Agency in an article titled “Aerial Aid Drops in Gaza; Help from the Sky, Disasters on the Ground,” recent repetitive scenes show Gaza’s skies turning into a stage for humanitarian air drops, where planes from Arab and foreign countries drop shipments over various parts of Gaza.

While these aids are supposed to be a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of besieged Gaza residents, in many cases they have caused deaths and injuries.

Medical sources and eyewitnesses report that some aerial aid shipments falling on Gaza residents or their tents have led to casualties, including women and children, and the destruction of tents and the already limited remaining facilities.

Meanwhile, legal experts have criticized the spectacle of aerial aid drops, stating that this process has turned into a visual show for media outlets of donor countries, while the aid, due to its irregularity and difficult access to landing zones, does not reach those in need.

Faced with this reality, Gaza residents question whether the goal is to feed the hungry or to broadcast aerial footage on global news networks. They ask if it is possible to replace this dangerous method with a more effective mechanism such as organized land or humanitarian corridors.

According to the source, until further notice, Gaza’s skies carry both hope and danger. The residents demand aid shipments that do not put their lives at risk.

Gaza residents between hunger and danger

Gaza residents have expressed their anger and call for facilitating access for UN agencies to deliver aid via land crossings.

“Umm Ahmed,” a refugee in Al-Shati camp in western Gaza City, said, “We were waiting for help to feed our children, but one of the aerial aid shipments fell on our tent and nearly killed us all.”

Abdul Halim Hussein, another Gaza citizen, stated, “The experience of air-dropped aid clearly shows its ineffectiveness in alleviating the severe hunger of Gaza’s residents. The small quantities dropped are insufficient to meet people’s needs amid intense hunger. Gaza rejects this method because it tramples human dignity and creates chaos. Does the international community like that we crush and kill each other to get to these shipments?”

Palestinian journalist Youssef Faris said, “One of the aid parachutes landed directly on refugees’ tents in the Al-Karama area in northern Gaza, injuring or possibly killing them all.”

He also noted the presence of criminal gangs at the aid drop sites aiming to steal and deprive the hungry, emphasizing that dozens have died from heavy parachutes falling directly on tents and homes. Israel invents every humiliating method.

Mohammed Basheer, a Gaza resident, said aerial aid poses a major danger because it falls on tents or damaged homes, which serve as shelters for Gaza residents. The solution is land delivery of aid, as one truck can carry as much aid as several aerial shipments.

Mahmoud Ibrahim spoke of some shipments falling in areas occupied by Israeli forces in Khan Yunis city and complained about the meager aid.

He added, “We cannot use aerial aid, and even the shipments allowed by the occupiers to enter Gaza are looted near Israeli military zones.”

Promoting the illusion of aid

Meanwhile, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) strongly criticized Israel’s use of aerial aid for Gaza, stating this method is not a solution to severe hunger and famine.

Juliet Touma, the agency’s media director, expressed doubts about the usefulness of this method, saying land delivery is much easier, more effective, faster, and cheaper. Air drops do not solve severe hunger. Six thousand aid trucks are waiting at crossings, pending Israel’s green light to enter besieged Gaza.

Touma urged the international community to lift the blockade, open crossings, and ensure safe humanitarian aid delivery.

The European Mediterranean Human Rights Center called aerial aid “promoting the illusion of aid” and accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon against civilians.

The international aid organization Oxfam also stated aerial aid does not address months of deliberate starvation in Gaza.

Boshra Al-Khalidi, an Oxfam official, said air drops and some aid trucks cannot solve Gaza’s months-long deliberate hunger. “We need to open crossings for full, unhindered aid delivery and establish a ceasefire.”