The Netherlands will drop sixteen pallets of 1,000 kilos each over Gaza for two weeks starting Friday. The packages mainly contain water and food, such as rice, flour and baby food. Sometimes some medical supplies are also included.
At Eindhoven Airport on Tuesday, a Dutch military transport plane was prepared for departure to Jordan. Items needed to carry out the droppings, such as pallets and parachutes, were loaded.
The C-130 aircraft will depart on Wednesday morning and will carry out aid drops over the Gaza Strip from Friday. The content is supplied by a Jordanian aid organization. “They will take into account where the population is most in need,” says a detachment commander who will travel with the flight on Wednesday.
In addition to the Netherlands, other countries are also carrying out food drops over Gaza, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Spain, France and Germany. Under the leadership of Jordan, the countries coordinate with each other where to drop. Where exactly this will be in these dropping zones is not yet known. That depends on, among other things, the weather conditions. “All packages go out of the plane on a parachute. It has no steering, so we have to take the wind into account.”
There is criticism from international aid organizations about the air drops, because they are costly and dangerous. People in Gaza have been injured and killed before. “The operation is indeed not without risks,” says the commander. “That is why we take into account the weather, but also the location and the way we drop. The lower we fly, the more accurately we can place the cargo.”
According to COGAT, the Israeli military agency that deals with Palestinian civil affairs, 110 pallets were dropped over Gaza on Tuesday. That brings the total to 785 so far.