Israel resumed airdrop aid to Gaza on Sunday AEST as the Israeli military announced several steps to address the humanitarian crisis after mounting international pressure.
The military said in a statement that designated corridors would be established to enable the movement of United Nations convoys delivering aid to the Gaza population.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organisations,” it added.
Palestinian sources confirmed that aid has begun dropping in northern Gaza.
International aid organisations say mass hunger has now arrived among Gaza’s 2.2 million people, with stocks running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, then reopened it in May but with new restrictions.
Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to distribute it. The United Nations says it is operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
The Israeli military statement said “there is no starvation in the Gaza Strip” and “this is a false campaign promoted by Hamas”.
The UN said on Thursday that humanitarian pauses would allow “the scale up of humanitarian assistance” and said Israel hadn’t provided ample route alternatives for its convoys which has hindered aid access.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in the past few weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry while 127 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war, which began nearly two years ago.
On Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
The military also said Saturday that it had connected a power line to a desalination plant, expected to supply daily water needs for about 900,000 Gazans.
Aid organisations cast doubt over effectiveness of airdrops
Humanitarian chiefs are deeply sceptical that airdrops can deliver enough food to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants. They are instead demanding that Israel allow more overland convoys.
A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective.
“Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. “They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians.”
“It is a distraction & screensmoke,” Lazzarini said in a post on X.
Israel imposed a total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza on 2 March after talks to extend a ceasefire in the over 21-month-old conflict broke down. In late May, it began letting a trickle of aid enter.
Israel’s military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into the Gaza Strip, and alleges that UN agencies and relief groups are not collecting the aid once it is inside the territory.
But humanitarian organisations accuse the Israeli army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza.