Latest news with #JulietteTouma
New York Times
2 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Why Airdrops in Gaza Pose Risks to Civilians
Three countries have begun dropping boxes of aid by parachute into Gaza after Israel announced it would allow airdrops, and more are expected to follow. But aid experts warn that airdrops are dangerous and insufficient to tackle the widening hunger crisis there. Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Tuesday that 'U.K. aid has been airdropped into Gaza today.' The United Arab Emirates and Jordan started parachuting parcels into Gaza on Sunday in coordination with Israel, according to the Israeli military agency that regulates humanitarian affairs in Gaza. The Israeli military said in a statement that it expanded aid efforts to include airdrops to 'improve the humanitarian response' and 'refute false claims of intentional starvation in Gaza.' Israeli officials have disputed allegations that they have limited the number of trucks delivering aid to Gaza by road, blaming the United Nations and its partners for failing to distribute hundreds of truckloads in Gaza. But aid agencies working in Gaza, 21 months into the war, say parachuting crates of aid is a risky and inefficient alternative. 'Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders?' said Juliette Touma, the chief spokeswoman for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. 'It's much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper,' she added. In a statement, Doctors Without Borders called airdrop parcels, which can weigh one ton or more, 'notoriously ineffective and dangerous,' forcing people to 'risk their lives for food.' In response to Israel's decision to allow airdrops, the United Nations' humanitarian agency said in a statement that 'All efforts to provide aid to the people who desperately need it are welcome.' It added, however, that the group and its partners 'say that airdrops are the last resort measure and carry risks for people on the ground.' How airdrops work Typically, airdrops are done by military planes carrying bundles of supplies and food. The supplies are loaded on pallets, flat platforms, and wrapped in netting to stay in place. Those pallets are attached to parachutes and pushed from the backs of aircrafts to reach delivery sites. Aid pallets can weigh 1,200 pounds when packed with food and over 2,000 pounds when packed with water, according to an estimate by The Washington Institute, a foreign policy think tank. Several countries, in coordination with the Israeli Air Force, dropped aid in Gaza last year, but stopped after some falling parcels killed and wounded people, and damaged property, and others landed in the sea or in Israel. Last year, at least five Palestinians were killed and several others injured in airdrop accidents, according to Gaza authorities. But getting aid on the ground in Gaza has become far more dangerous. Responding to unrest at some aid sites, Israeli soldiers have repeatedly fired at crowds in past two months, killing hundreds of people. The United Nations said in a statement that injuries were reported Sunday when packages fell on tents. 'When you're airdropping food, there's supposed to be a lot of preparation, planning and communication,' said Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, who previously supervised airdrop operations in Syria and Iraq for the U.S. government. 'You want to make sure you're dropping to a place where people know it's coming, that you can clear the area, and control that area so there's no risk of people being crushed.' But in conflict zones like Gaza, it can be difficult to obtain such information and coordinate with those on the receiving end to ensure operations go smoothly, Mr. Konyndyk added. The high cost of airdrops Among the most common criticisms of airdrops is that they are expensive and inefficient compared to delivering aid by trucks. While the average plane can fit about two truckloads worth of aid, Mr. Konyndyk said, there is a much greater supply of available trucks and people to drive them. Aid planes require specialized cargo and experienced crews, while any commercial truck driver can deliver aid by land. 'There is a limited volume of airplanes in the world that are available for this, and you need a specialized cargo, you need crews that are experienced' Mr. Konyndyk said. In contrast, there is 'a pretty big universe of people' who can drive trucks, he said. While costs vary, Mr. Konyndyk estimated from his disaster relief experience in South Sudan that airdropped aid was roughly about 11 times as expensive per commodity as aid delivered by truck. An analysis last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, calculated that airdrops in Gaza could cost as much as 42 times more than truck delivery, based on the cost-per-mile of each method. Limits on medicine and water Fragile goods, like certain medicines and water, are difficult to airdrop because they can be destroyed from the impact of landing. 'You don't fight famine with food alone,' Mr. Konyndyk said. 'Yes you need food, but you also need to be able to provide medical treatment.' Those types of aid require on-the-ground service delivery and personnel.
Days of Palestine
3 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
UNRWA Rejects Israeli, GHF Accusations Amid Gaza Famine
DaysofPal- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has strongly rejected recent accusations from the Israeli government and the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF, calling them a 'smear campaign' designed to shift blame for the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. The controversy erupted after the Israeli Government Advertising Agency released a video claiming that 'while Israel cleared hundreds of trucks that crossed into Gaza, the UN refuses to distribute the aid. These trucks stand idle inside Gaza next to growing stockpiles of supplies. This is deliberate sabotage by the UN.' UNRWA firmly denied the accusations, calling them baseless and misleading. Juliette Touma, the agency's Director of Communications, stated that the claims are 'a distraction from the real issue: Israel's obstruction of aid access.' She emphasized that there are no idle trucks in Gaza and that the UN is doing everything it can to distribute aid under extremely challenging conditions. 'The challenge is not distribution, it's getting safe, consistent access under military restrictions and ongoing conflict,' she said. The accusations come as Gaza descends deeper into famine, whereas the UN and multiple international organizations have described the situation as a 'constructed and deliberate famine,' pointing to systemic barriers imposed by Israeli occupation on humanitarian movements. Reports indicate that more than half of UN aid missions were blocked or delayed between May and July due to Israeli military procedures and a lack of access clearances. In some cases, aid convoys had to be halted because of looting, which UN officials say would not occur if sufficient aid were allowed in regularly. UNRWA also criticized the GHF, a recently launched aid mechanism supported by Israel and the U.S., arguing that it undermines neutral humanitarian work. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini described the GHF model as 'politicized, chaotic, and dangerous,' claiming that its aid distribution is selective, sometimes excluding individuals based on biometric data or alleged affiliations. 'This is not humanitarian aid. It's a tool of control,' said Lazzarini. The international response has been one of growing alarm, where organizations including the World Food Program, WHO, UNICEF, and over 115 NGOs have condemned the conditions in Gaza and urged for unimpeded humanitarian access. UNICEF officials warned that children are dying of starvation in real time, and UN staff on the ground report that even their workers are collapsing from hunger. 'It's not just that people are hungry,' one UN source said. 'The humanitarian system is on the verge of collapse.' Several European countries have called for emergency intervention, describing the crisis as 'a man-made disaster of unprecedented scale.' With Gaza's civilian population teetering on the brink, UNRWA is calling for global solidarity and for aid operations to be allowed to proceed based on humanitarian, not political, priorities. 'This is not the time for blame games. It is time for immediate, unhindered humanitarian action.' said Touma. Shortlink for this post:
Middle East Eye
4 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
'A distraction': Unrwa says Israeli and GHF claims over UN aid delivery are baseless
The United Nations Reliefs and Work Agency (Unrwa) has hit back at a smear campaign launched by Israel and the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) accusing the UN of failing to deliver aid and being responsible for the mass famine underway in Gaza. In a video placed by the Israeli Government Advertising Agency, a narrator is heard saying: "While Israel cleared hundreds of trucks that crossed into Gaza, the UN refuses to distribute the aid. These trucks stand idle inside Gaza next to growing stockpiles of supplies. This is deliberate sabotage by the UN." The video then shows dozens of immobile trucks. Juliette Touma, director of communications at Unrwa, debunked the claims that trucks were sitting "idle" in Gaza, and aid within the enclave had not been delivered. "We have 6,000 trucks stuck in Jordan and Egypt full of food and medicines," Touma told Middle East Eye. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "They have not been given the green light to get into Gaza where people are starving." Separately, the GHF chairman, evangelical Christian minister Reverend Johnnie Moore, wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday and to the Under-Secretary General of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Tom Fletcher, on Tuesday, saying he wanted to collaborate with the UN and accused the UN of leaving aid abandoned in Gaza. In the letter addressed to Guterres, Moore wrote that he wished to collaborate with the UN. "The time has come to confront, without euphemism or delay, the structural failure of aid delivery in Gaza, and to course-correct decisively," he wrote. 'We have 6,000 trucks stuck in Jordan and Egypt full of food and medicines. They have not been given the green light to get into Gaza where people are starving' - Juliette Touma, Unrwa Moore said the "crisis was driven by the ability to deliver the food directly to those who need it. The UN's continued reliance on what it has termed 'existing infrastructure' has, in practice enabled the obstruction of aid". Moore blamed the failure of food delivery to civilians on the "manipulation of humanitarian flows by bad actors" without identifying who the "bad actors" were. He called on the UN to work directly with GHF to deliver "food at scale". In a letter to Fletcher, he accused the UN of leaving aid sitting around and failing to deliver it. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, also accused OCHA of being a "propaganda machine" against Israel, which he said purposely undercounts aid trucks heading into Gaza. The campaign comes as mass famine reaches critical levels with two million people on the brink of starvation in the enclave. 'A distraction to the inaction' Touma from Unrwa said that aid had been waiting to enter Gaza since 2 March. On 18 March, Israel abruptly ended the ceasefire that had been in place since 19 January, and has maintained a blockade on the Strip. Touma said there had to be "political will" for UN teams to enter, and added that the smears against the UN were "nothing new" and were distracting from the real issue: people starving in Gaza. "Distractions like these will delay actions that are needed. Children and adults are dying of starvation. Because of this scam of a distribution system [GHF], more than 1,000 starving people have been killed. "It's time to lift the siege, let aid in and release the hostages. It's time to allow Unrwa to do its work. There will be irreversible consequences if we do not." She advocated returning to the existing infrastructure in place managed by Unrwa. Unrwa has been banned from the occupied West Bank and Gaza since October. Children in Gaza show signs of malnutrition and abuse after detention in Israel Read More » She added that there was "a lot of manipulation of information" and called on media organisations to verify the videos being sent. "The media gets fixated on information that one side to the conflict is putting out. That's a distraction from the atrocities including the deliberate starvation of Palestinian people. "It's time for the media to verify these videos and geolocate the trucks and whether these videos are from Gaza or not, and when they were actually stationed there." Unrwa's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday that the mass starvation was "constructed and deliberate". In a statement, he said that GHF's flawed distribution system is not designed to address the humanitarian crisis. "It's serving military and political objectives. It's cruel as it takes more lives than it saves lives. Israel controls all aspects of humanitarian access, whether outside or within Gaza." He also said that airdrops – which Israel had approved – were "the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid". "It is a distraction to the inaction," he added. Starvation More than 100 humanitarian organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass famine" was spreading in the Gaza Strip after Israel blocked humanitarian aid from entering in early March and has been providing woefully inadequate aid via the controversial GHF since the end of May. MEE reported on Tuesday that renowned expert on famine, Professor Alex de Waal, accused Israel of "genocidal starvation" of Palestinians in Gaza with its continued deadly siege on the enclave. 'Because of this scam of a distribution system [GHF], more than 1,000 starving people have been killed' - Juliette Touma, Unrwa At least 122 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of starvation since Israel's blockade resumed in March, including 15 who died of malnutrition on Monday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid at distribution sites run by the controversial GHF, in place since May and manned by Israeli soldiers and US security contractors. De Waal told MEE's live show on Tuesday that the UN is not in a position to declare famine due to Israel's obstruction of access to humanitarians and investigators who could gauge the extent of hunger. However, he said: "It is actually relatively straightforward if you are perpetrating a famine to shut out access to essential information and then say no one has declared famine. "Concealment of famine is an instrument of those who perpetrate it." De Waal added that famine is unfolding in Gaza in "a wholly predicted manner". De Waal is executive director of the World Peace Foundation, affiliated with the Fletcher School of Global Affairs at Tufts University, and the author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Israel to allow humanitarian airdrops over Gaza
The Israeli announcement followed rising international condemnation of the dire state of affairs in Gaza, with many countries — including some of Israel's traditional allies — holding the Israeli government responsible for the situation. Israel says it is doing everything it can to allow aid into the Palestinian enclave. 'The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now,' the governments of Britain, France, and Germany said in a joint statement Friday. Advertisement The severity of the humanitarian crisis over 21 months of grinding war has led some Western nations, once sympathetic to Israel's actions in Gaza, to shift their stance toward the entrenched conflict. On Thursday, France said it would soon recognize an independent state of Palestine, adding its name to a growing list of European countries to do so. Starmer said in his address Friday that he was 'unequivocal' in his support of recognizing a Palestinian state but that it would need to be part of a 'wider plan, which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.' Advertisement Experts criticized the planned airdrops as largely symbolic and warned that they were unlikely to provide enough aid to the roughly two million Palestinians in Gaza, who are in dire conditions after 21 months of war. Nearly one in three people in the territory is not eating for days at a time, according to the United Nations' World Food Program. Gaza health authorities say that acute malnutrition is rising and that children have died. Ordinary Palestinians in Gaza recount that basic goods like flour are sold for sky-high prices — or are not available at all. Doctors and health workers say their colleagues are struggling to keep working as they, too, go hungry. Major news agencies, including The Associated Press, said their employees in Gaza were less and less able to feed themselves. On Friday, the United Nations accused Israel of throwing up 'bureaucratic, logistical, administrative, and other operational obstacles' to the distribution of aid. Those restrictions compound other problems with getting food to hungry people, the UN's office of humanitarian affairs said in a statement, including attacks on convoys by armed criminals inside Gaza. 'Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders?' said Juliette Touma, the chief spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. 'It's much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper,' she added. Israeli officials say they have not limited the number of trucks entering the territory, and they say the UN has failed to distribute hundreds of truckloads' worth of food and other provisions from border crossings deeper into the Gaza Strip. Advertisement Ceasefire talks to end the war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian armed group, have stalled. Many Gaza residents had hoped a truce would allow large amounts of food to flow freely into the enclave. But on Thursday, the Israeli government and the United States announced that they were recalling negotiators from Qatar, where they had held talks with Hamas. The announcement paused hopes for an immediate ceasefire, although Israeli and Hamas officials expressed optimism that the negotiations would soon resume. Throughout Israel's nearly two-year war with Hamas, Israeli authorities have permitted some aid drops, including by the United States. But UN officials have consistently argued that the best way to bring enough food into Gaza is by land, through borders controlled by Israel and Egypt. Israel permitted hundreds of trucks with aid to enter each day for several weeks during a ceasefire that lasted from January to March. But as further truce talks between Israel and Hamas sputtered to a halt, Israel barred practically all aid from entering the Gaza Strip for more than two months, including food, fuel, and medicine. Israeli authorities began allowing convoys into Gaza again in May. But relatively little assistance entered the Gaza Strip in June compared with other points during the war, according to official Israeli data. At least one recent attempt by the UN to bring food into Gaza led to chaotic scenes as Israeli soldiers shot at crowds of Palestinians rushing to seize bags of flour. Gaza health officials reported that dozens of people were killed and wounded. On Sunday, a 25-truck convoy operated by the World Food Program made its way into the Gaza Strip. Shortly after passing the final checkpoint into Gaza, the trucks encountered huge crowds of hungry Palestinians. Advertisement 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers, and other gunfire,' the World Food Program said in a statement. 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation.' The Israeli military said its forces had fired 'warning shots' after thousands of Palestinians rushed the area. The military disputed the death toll provided by Gaza officials but did not provide an alternate figure. This article originally appeared in
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Aid agencies warning mass starvation spreading in Gaza
aid and development conflict 19 minutes ago More than 100 aid agencies warn that "mass starvation" is spreading across Gaza. UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.
