While humanitarian aid is only trickling into the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, Jordan and France have decided to directly airdrop food and relief supplies.
“The people of Gaza need massive humanitarian aid.
All crossing points must be opened without delay.
France and Jordan have just carried out a new operation to drop humanitarian cargo directly into Gaza,” President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday on the social network
The people of Gaza need massive humanitarian aid.
All the crossing points must be opened without delay.
France and Jordan have just carried out a new operation to drop humanitarian cargo directly into Gaza.
pic.twitter.com/EsFpU37Jke
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 26, 2024
Jordanian forces carried out "four airdrops carrying aid to the population of Gaza", following the order of King Abdullah II of Jordan.
The operation aimed to “deliver aid directly to the population and drop it along the coast of the Gaza Strip, from north to south,” the Jordanian army said in a statement.
“Four C-130 planes, including one belonging to the French armed forces,” made the deliveries, she added.
The two countries had already carried out an operation of this type together at the beginning of the year, dropping seven tonnes of humanitarian aid intended for the Jordanian field hospital set up in Gaza.
“Meals with great nutritional value”
According to the text, these are “relief and food supplies, including ready-to-eat meals of high nutritional value, to alleviate the suffering of the population in the Gaza Strip”.
“Four C-130 aircraft, including one belonging to the French armed forces,” made the deliveries, according to the Amman press release.
Jordan has carried out sixteen operations to drop humanitarian and medical aid since the start of the war on October 7 between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, intended in particular for a Jordanian field hospital in the north of the Palestinian territory.
The “threat of mass starvation”
The humanitarian situation continues to worsen in the Gaza Strip where the humanitarian aid coordination office (Ocha) warned on Saturday of “a threat of mass famine” due to lack of sufficient supplies of water and food.
Human rights NGOs Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of continuing to limit humanitarian aid despite demands from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to do everything to prevent genocide in the Strip. from Gaza.
In November, Israel said it had coordinated an airdrop of humanitarian aid with Jordan.