France will airdrop 40 tons of aid into Gaza from Friday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday, as UN-backed experts warned the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory was slipping into famine.
Concern has escalated in the past week about hunger in the Gaza Strip after more than 21 months of war that started after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel in October 2023.
"We will organize, starting from Friday, and in close coordination with the Jordanian authorities, four flights carrying 10 tons of supplies each for the Gaza Strip," Barrot told the BFMTV television broadcaster.
But Barrot said France also had aid waiting to cross into Gaza by road that was being blocked in northern Egypt.
"The air route is useful, but it is not sufficient," the minister added.
"Fifty-two tons of French humanitarian freight are blocked in El-Arish," an Egyptian city some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border, he added.
"It is therefore essential that the Israeli authorities finally agree to reopen land access to the Gaza Strip sufficiently so as to alleviate the atrocious suffering of its civilian populations," he added.
A French diplomatic source said earlier in the day that aid deliveries by land were "by far the most effective solution to enable the massive and unhindered delivery of humanitarian goods that the population desperately needs."
Britain said earlier on Tuesday it had carried out its first air drop of humanitarian supplies into Gaza on Tuesday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said two German air transport aircraft were already en route to Jordan and would start air-dropping aid into Gaza "from the weekend at the latest, possibly even tomorrow."
Aid groups have warned that "mass starvation" is spreading among the territory's more than two million residents.
Israel has in recent days allowed more aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, but aid agencies say Israeli authorities could still do more to speed up frontier checks and open more border posts.
AFP
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