By Janet Ekstract NEW YORK- U.N.’s emergency relief chief has warned that famine is “around the corner” in Gaza if immediate action isn’t taken. There’s already widespread malnutrition among children in Gaza and very little if any provisions are getting to the people who so desperately need it. In early January, France and Jordan have had to parchute seven tons of emergency medical aid onto a Jordanian field hospital in Gaza. Analysts and observers are urging food drops as a solution. As a U.S.-based Middle East analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib who spoke to TIME magazine said: “So many countries that would otherwise send aid have to go through these ong laborious processes to get food aid and then they have to think about who’s going to receipt it in Gaza and who is going to distribute it.” Alkhatib is also a native of Gaza with much of his family still there. He said that by arranging aerial food drops in coordination with the Israeli military as Jordan supposedly did – he thinks this can prevent famine.
Alkhatib explained to TIME that airdrops of foodstuff might be directed not just to civilian centers in the south of Gaza but as well to people remaining in the north which has become inaccessible. Experts warn that humanitarian airdrops are complex and expensive as well as less efficient and more hazardous. The head of air operations at the Red Cross Michael Schaffner told TIME that “The operations are not without risk.” A major problem he said, is securing the drop-off location which must be free from crowding and it has to be a very large area. Then he said there must be advance arrangements about who will collect the food cargo and how it will be distributed. He added: “We do not do airdrops without these measures in place.”
Photo : AA
