Nutrition program for Gaza Air Aid: Expensive and risky

Conflicts

Nutrition program for Gaza Air Aid: Expensive and risky

What brings help from the air in the fight against hunger in Gaza? The United Nations nutritional program does not have enough – and makes other suggestions.

From the perspective of the World Food Program (WFP), the dropping of relief goods above the Gaza Strip is completely inadequate. “In this location, air drops act like plasters on open wounds: expensive, risky and hardly controllable,” said the representative of the UN program in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, Martin Frick, the German Press Agency in Berlin.

“In overcrowded humanitarian zones, an orderly distribution with relief goods that come from the air is hardly possible-the risk of injury is high, the costs are 34 times higher than in land transports,” said Frick.

The Bundeswehr wants to throw goods over the Gaza Strip again today. Other states are currently doing this to reach hungry people on the ground.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza had “a new dimension of horror”, complained Frick. “We see the worst hunger since the beginning of the war: every third has not eaten anything for days, half a million people are on the edge of starvation. Children already die of malnutrition.”

After weeks of blockade, the WFP warehouses in the Gaza Strip are empty, said Frick. The program of the program would be on checkpoint for hours because permits are granted slow, or would have to take dangerous routes from active fighting zones.

“We have proven that humanitarian aid is possible on a large scale in Gaza via the land path – if we are let work,” emphasized Frick. During the ceasefire, the WFP had brought up to 700 trucks into the Gaza Strip every day and can specifically supply over 400 distribution points with auxiliary goods.

“This ensures that help arrives with the people who need the most urgently – children, pregnant women, old people or people with disabilities.” More than 170,000 tons of food were near the border or are on the way – enough to supply the entire population of Gaza for three months.

“What we need are open border crossings, quick permits and safe corridors – without armed presence. At least 100 trucks daily, over all available routes, with clear coordination,” Frick demanded. “This is the only way we can regain the trust of people, open soup kitchens and bakeries again and avert a famine.”