# Aid groups warn Gaza air drops will not end hunger as malnutrition deaths rise
Aid agencies on 2025-07-26 warned that plans to deliver food to Gaza by air would do little to resolve the territory’s hunger crisis, even as Israel said foreign countries would be allowed to begin air drops in the coming days.
The BBC live report said Gazans interviewed by the broadcaster described the idea as unsafe and said similar attempts had failed before. One man told the BBC that aid dropped from aircraft can land on tents and create serious harm, including injury or death. A woman said air-dropped supplies had helped in the past but that people had died because of the risks involved in retrieving them.
The same report said the Hamas-run health ministry reported five more deaths from malnutrition that day, bringing the total to 127 since the war began, including 85 children. Those figures underscore why aid agencies have pushed Israel to allow larger, more reliable deliveries by land rather than depending on airdrops.
The BBC quoted the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Shaina Low as saying earlier air-drop operations had turned deadly on multiple occasions, including cases in which people drowned after boxes drifted into the sea and others were hurt or killed when parachutes failed. The International Rescue Committee’s Donnelly said such deliveries cannot provide the kind of monitoring that aid agencies need, because recipients and final use are hard to track.
The report also said the dispute is partly rooted in the failure of traditional land routes to move enough food into Gaza. Israel and the US have accused aid agencies of allowing supplies to be diverted by Hamas and other armed groups. Aid organisations deny there is evidence of systematic looting. The BBC cited a recent USAID analysis that reportedly found no evidence of the practice.
The humanitarian concern is not only the mode of delivery, but the scale of need. Aid groups say the territory’s densely packed population makes dropped shipments difficult to control and potentially hazardous. They also point out that air drops cannot reliably match the volume that trucks can carry when crossings are open and convoys are allowed to move without obstruction.
The result is a growing split between urgency and practicality. Governments can be seen acting quickly by using aircraft, but aid agencies argue that symbolism does not equal supply. In their view, the only durable answer is a steady land corridor backed by security guarantees and enough volume to meet the needs of civilians already living through severe shortages.
