Israel to Permit Humanitarian Airdrops Over Gaza Amid Growing Food Crisis
Israel has authorized airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza as food shortages worsen. International aid groups say airlifts are not enough to meet the scale of the crisis.
Written By EEW Magazine Online Global News Editors
Palestinians gather to receive hot meals distributed by a charity kitchen in Khan Younis, located in southern Gaza, on April 29, 2025. © Hatem Khaled, Reuters
Key Facts
Israel has agreed to allow Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to conduct humanitarian aid airdrops over Gaza amid worsening food insecurity.
The United Nations reports nearly one-third of Gaza’s population is going days without eating, and children have died from acute malnutrition.
Humanitarian organizations warn that airlifts alone are insufficient and emphasize the need for large-scale land deliveries to meet urgent needs.
(EEW Magazine Online) Israel has agreed to permit humanitarian airdrops over Gaza by foreign nations, including Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as international pressure mounts to address widespread hunger and worsening living conditions in the war-torn enclave.
The decision was confirmed Friday by COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees civilian and humanitarian affairs in Palestinian territories. Officials said the drops will be coordinated with the Israeli military in an effort to ensure aid reaches civilians safely and efficiently.
The move comes as Gaza faces a deepening humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, nearly one in three residents in the territory is going days without eating. Acute malnutrition among children has led to reported deaths, and medical workers say they are struggling to care for patients while grappling with food shortages themselves.
An Israeli soldier stands near humanitarian aid packages prepared for pickup on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza, July 24, 2025. (Credit: AP/Ohad Zwigenberg, file)
“The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now,” the governments of Britain, France, and Germany said in a joint statement issued Friday, calling on Israel to ease aid restrictions and allow more assistance into the enclave.
While Israel has previously allowed limited airdrops by allied nations, including the United States, humanitarian groups have warned that parachuted aid—though symbolically significant—is insufficient to meet the vast needs of Gaza’s roughly two million residents. The World Food Programme has said as many as 600 trucks per day would be required to adequately feed the population.
Land-based aid deliveries have been inconsistent. After sharply restricting aid for more than two months earlier this year, Israel resumed allowing limited convoys in May. But logistical and security challenges continue to hinder effective distribution.
Palestinians carry food and aid from a World Food Programme convoy in northern Gaza, June 16, 2025. (Credit: AP/Jehad Alshrafi, file)
On Sunday, a 25-truck convoy operated by the World Food Programme reportedly entered Gaza through the Zikim crossing. Shortly after passing through the final checkpoint, the convoy was met by large crowds of desperate Palestinians. In a statement, the World Food Program said the crowd came under gunfire from Israeli tanks, snipers, and other forces.
“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,” the agency said.
The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had fired warning shots after thousands of Palestinians swarmed the area. The military disputed casualty numbers released by Gaza health authorities but did not provide alternate figures.
Similar incidents have been reported at other distribution points since May, when Israel shifted some aid responsibilities to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.- and Israeli-backed non-governmental organization. International observers, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have criticized the move, saying civilian-managed distribution under military oversight raises serious safety and ethical concerns.
Cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar and the United States, were paused Thursday after Israeli and U.S. officials withdrew their delegations. Though both sides expressed hope that talks would resume, no timeline was provided.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the October 2023 Hamas attack, has continued for nearly two years, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians and leaving large swaths of the territory in ruins. The conflict has prompted mounting global concern over access to humanitarian aid, with repeated calls for both immediate relief and a long-term political resolution.
Despite ongoing hostilities, Israeli officials have reiterated that they are not restricting the number of aid trucks permitted to enter Gaza. Instead, they point to what they describe as operational failures by U.N. agencies in delivering supplies from border crossings to distribution points inside the Strip.
United Nations officials have denied those claims, citing dangerous conditions, limited staffing, and the destruction of infrastructure as primary obstacles to aid delivery.
As food insecurity worsens and access to essentials grows increasingly limited, humanitarian organizations continue to call for expanded land access, safer distribution methods, and a sustained cease-fire to prevent further loss of life.
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