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03-08-2025
PARIS/ GAZA STRIP: France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza as it urged Israel to allow full access to the area which it said was slipping into famine.
“Faced with the absolute urgency, we have just conducted a food airdrop operation in Gaza. Thank you to our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, and to our military personnel for their commitment,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote on social media.
“Airdrops are not enough. Israel must open full humanitarian access to address the risk of famine,” he added.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot earlier in the day had told broadcaster franceinfo that France was sending four flights carrying 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid each to Gaza from Jordan.
A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted.
France participated six times in the European humanitarian airlift set up in mid-October 2023 by the European Union to Jordan and Egypt to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, Macron’s office said.
The European airlift enabled the organization of more than 60 flights carrying over 3,350 tons of humanitarian cargo, with most of the donations in-kind transiting through Egypt and Jordan, according to Macron’s office.
Part of this aid has still not entered Gaza due to a lack of agreement from the Israeli authorities, the president’s office said.
Spain and France both announced on Friday that they had airdropped tons of food into Gaza.
Spain dropped 12 tons of aid, while French President Emmanuel Macron said his country carried out its first humanitarian airdrop of several tons and that more would follow over the course of the weekend.
The Spanish mission deployed 24 parachutes, each capable of carrying 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of food, for a total of 12 tons enough for about 11,000 people, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.
Spain also has aid waiting to cross into Gaza by road from Egypt, the minister added in a video message posted on social network, along with a video of the operation.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Friday that Rome plans to evacuate Palestinian children in need of medical treatment from the Gaza Strip.
Tajani said Italy was working on a plan to fly out some 50 people, including adults to accompany the children.
He also announced plans for Italy to join other countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Spain, in airdropping aid into Gaza.
The first Italian airdrops could start as early as August 9. Italy is also set to provide another €5 million ($5.7 million) to be spent on food for Palestinians in Gaza.
Aircraft operated by Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have been dropping aid pallets on Gaza since Sunday, when Israel began allowing more aid into the sealed-off territory by air and land after months of near-total blockade.
Amid warnings of imminent famine in Gaza, the UN and other aid organizations have criticized such measures as largely symbolic, arguing it is significantly less costly and more efficient to supply aid via land.
Since Sunday, in addition to authorizing airdrops, Israel has allowed around 200 trucks per day from UN agencies and other organizations to enter Gaza. Before the war, about 500 trucks entered the territory each day. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
