BBC travels with first Jordanian helicopter delivering aid inside Gaza
The scene from the air reveals itself out of the midday haze - grey ruins and a lifeless landscape.
As we land, the Jordanian air force men jump out first and make sure there is someone from the World Food Programme to receive the aid.
A solitary figure in a hi-vis jacket approaches.
Next to a barbed wire fence two trucks are waiting to bring the aid into nearby Khan Younis.
There are no formalities. The aid is quickly unloaded. All the time the helicopter rotors keep turning.
There is a sense of real urgency - there are 14 more helicopters waiting to follow us to the landing zone.
The BBC was allowed to join the mission, which landed in Israeli-held territory in southern Gaza between the Israeli border and the town of Wadi al-Salqa.
Although this is just the edge of the conflict zone, the area next to the landing strip resembles a wasteland after 15 months of war.
I saw what appeared to be Israeli digging machines working in the area.
The Jordanians deployed 16 helicopters for Tuesday's operation.
They are delivering medical supplies and baby formula which could spoil if transported on a long road journey.
The Jordanian government's official spokesman, Dr Mohammad al-Momani, told me the scenes of human suffering in Gaza were "horrific... and inhumane".
He said Jordan was joining with the international community to try and alleviate suffering.
What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal
'A long, long road ahead': Gaza rebuilds from zero
'My home is no longer there': Palestinians return to north Gaza
'I want to fulfil my dead brother's dream' - rebuilding life in Gaza's ruins
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'We're talking about 2 million people. It's not 100 trucks or a pausing or a few hours of calm that is going to meet the needs of a population that has been starved for months,' Khalidi said. 'Starvation has a long-term impact, and it affects growth of children, and it's not something that you can reverse by throwing energy bars from the sky.' Israel says that the level of hunger has been exaggerated and that it is doing its best to lessen it. Israel's military spokesperson has said there is no starvation in Gaza. The Israeli agency coordinating aid for Gaza did not respond to a request for comment. Israel has also blamed the United Nations for not bringing in more food, while the organization says that Israel frequently denies or delays its requests to bring in convoys, among other challenges. Many aid workers say airdrops endanger desperate people while feeding only a few, and only those physically able to retrieve it. During previous airdrops, people have been injured by falling aid; others have drowned or crossed into combat zones to retrieve packages that fell there, officials say. When he recently saw a plane drop aid by parachute, Mohammed Abu Taha, 43, who is sheltering in southern Gaza, ran toward it. By the time he arrived, other Palestinians were fighting over the remaining bags of food. 'People are too desperate,' he said. 'I ran a lot and got nothing at all.' Advertisement Each airdrop delivers at most two truckloads of aid, and usually less, aid officials said. 'Airdrops are the most ineffective, expensive way of delivering aid possible,' said Bob Kitchen, who oversees emergency response at the International Rescue Committee, a group working in Gaza. With nearly 1 in 3 people going without food for days at a time, according to the United Nations, clinics treating malnutrition are at or over capacity. 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Staving off famine therefore depends not only on food, but also on fuel to run hospitals, cooking gas to make meals and clean water and sanitation to keep waterborne diseases in check -- all of which are absent or nearly absent from Gaza, aid workers say. Aid agencies have received 200 to 300 trucks in Gaza each day for the past several days, the Israeli agency coordinating aid said. They mainly carried flour along with prepared meals, infant formula, high-energy biscuits, diapers, vaccines and fuel, the United Nations said. Before the war, Gaza received 500 to 600 trucks a day of aid and goods for sale. Advertisement The flour provides calories, but will not save those who are severely malnourished after nearly two years of deprivation, aid workers say. Malnourished people need specialized feeding and care. Yet hospitals have few supplies left. David M. 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