UNRWA officials: Aid air drops into Gaza ‘dangerous’, ‘costly’, ‘inefficient’
8/2/2025 11:06:00 AM
Juliette Touma of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the current aid being parachuted from military planes into Gaza is “dangerous to civilians” on the ground in the war-torn enclave.
In an interview, Touma said the UN must be allowed to do its work and the “much easier” solution to getting desperately needed food supplies to Gaza’s two million people was for Israel to open Gaza’s borders and allow aid trucks to enter.
Touma’s comments followed after UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the airdrops currently under way are “at least 100 times more costly than trucks”.
“Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes,” Lazzarini said, noting that UNRWA has 6,000 truckloads of aid ready to enter the enclave where famine conditions now exist.
“If there is political will to allow airdrops – which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings,” Lazzarini wrote on social media.
“As the people of #Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance,” he added.
In an interview, Touma said the UN must be allowed to do its work and the “much easier” solution to getting desperately needed food supplies to Gaza’s two million people was for Israel to open Gaza’s borders and allow aid trucks to enter.
Touma’s comments followed after UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the airdrops currently under way are “at least 100 times more costly than trucks”.
“Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes,” Lazzarini said, noting that UNRWA has 6,000 truckloads of aid ready to enter the enclave where famine conditions now exist.
“If there is political will to allow airdrops – which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings,” Lazzarini wrote on social media.
“As the people of #Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance,” he added.