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Spain has airdropped 12 tonnes of food into Gaza, the country’s foreign minister announced on Friday.
The mission, which used 24 parachutes to deliver a total of 12,000 kilogrammes of food, is intended to feed approximately 11,000 people.
In a video message on X, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called the “induced famine” in Gaza a “disgrace to all of humanity.”
He urged Israel to “open all land crossings permanently so that humanitarian aid can enter on a massive scale.”
This airdrop places Spain among several other Western countries, including Britain and France, that have recently partnered with Middle Eastern nations to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory by air.
However, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, has warned that airdrops are not a sustainable solution.
He stated on X that “Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks” and that “Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes.”
The UN has warned that a “worst-case scenario” famine is unfolding in Gaza, a situation that can only be reversed with immediate and unimpeded access for humanitarian groups.
Although Israel has recently increased the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, aid agencies maintain that authorities could do more to streamline border checks and open additional entry points.
The humanitarian crisis has escalated following more than 21 months of war, which began after the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel.
