Airdrops Fail

Israel allowed only 109 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, but most of them were looted amid escalating security chaos, the Gaza Government Media Office reported.

Four of six airdrops also fell into hazardous zones, it said.

“Today, 109 aid trucks entered Gaza, with the majority looted and robbed due to the security chaos systematically and deliberately imposed by the Israeli occupation,” the office said in a statement as published in Anadolu.

It added that Israel aims to “sabotage aid distribution and deprive civilians of assistance as part of engineering chaos and starvation.”

The office pointed out that the airdrop operations failed to reach those in need, noting that “four of six airdrops landed in areas under Israeli military control or neighborhoods where civilians had been ordered to evacuate.”

It added that anyone in these areas “faces direct targeting and killing,” making the airdrops “not only futile but also dangerous to the starving population.”

The media office emphasized that Gaza requires at least 600 aid trucks and fuel daily to meet civilians’ basic needs.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza for 18 years and since March 2 has shut down all crossings, blocking the entry of aid convoys and ignoring international calls to reopen them.

At least 147 people have died of starvation since October 2023, including 88 children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

This comes as Israel on Sunday announced plans for localized temporary pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery through designated safe corridors amid mounting accusations that such measures are an attempt to whitewash its role in the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.