Israel airdrops food into Gaza as starvation deaths rise

Airdrops of food have resumed in Gaza, Israel said, as deaths from starvation in the besieged enclave spread.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/26/gaza-airdrops-resume-starvation-israel/

https://archive.ph/lvESr



JERUSALEM — Israel has begun to airdrop food into Gaza, Israel said on Saturday, as deaths from starvation in the besieged enclave spread this week and international criticism of Israel’s restrictions on aid reached a crescendo. The Israeli military said seven pallets of flour, sugar and canned goods — which appeared to be less than a truckload of food — was dropped Saturday night after a meeting led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior aides. Israeli troops will pause fighting on Sunday to allow for food distribution and assist U.N. agencies in their aid delivery effort, the military said, and Israel will also turn on electricity to Gaza’s only functioning water desalination plant.

Israel shut the plant in March, depriving Gaza of the ability to make its own potable water. Aid agencies described the airdrops Saturday as an inadequate response and an Israeli attempt to whitewash a policy of deliberate starvation. The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that the airdrops and other measures were “aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, and to refute the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip.” An Israeli military official acknowledged this week to reporters that Gaza was facing a “lack of food security” but denied there was famine.

Still, Israel’s moves amounted to a turnaround in its policy under intense international pressure and underscored the severe humanitarian crisis unfolding inside the strip. Netanyahu’s government began to block food and medicine from entering Gaza in March on the grounds that the previous aid distribution mechanism led by the United Nations was benefiting Hamas — a claim that has been rejected by Western and U.N. officials. An Israeli official said Saturday’s airdrop operation was conducted by Israeli Air Force planes carrying food from neighboring Jordan — marking the first time since the start of the Israel-Gaza War that Israel has directly delivered aid to Palestinians.



Israel has been under blistering international criticism for its blockade of Gaza as images of dead and malnourished Palestinian children circulate around the world. In recent days, a growing group of international governments has volunteered to join airdrop missions immediately to relieve the deepening crisis. “Jordan is ready to help the people in Gaza by any means, whether it’s land convoys or airdrops or anything,” said a Jordanian official, who, like others in this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. “People are hungry.”

snip