Israel “was not involved in the inspection” of the food packages airdropped over Gaza on Saturday during a joint operation with Jordan, the Pentagon told The Jerusalem Post.
“The goods are prepackaged foods that are inspected at the time they are processed and before delivery,” the Pentagon said. It did not expand on how the goods were inspected or the location where the airplanes for the airdrop had departed from.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the drop of 38,000 ready-to-eat meals into Gaza was done in collaboration with the Jordanian Royal Air Force. “This operation saw 66 bundles of aid offloaded across three C-130 aircraft delivered to people in dire need of it,” he said. It was the second such airdrop, with Jordan conducting the first such operation on Tuesday. The US plans to do more airdrops.
Other countries, including Belgium, want to conduct similar operations as a go-around solution to the problems of ground aid distribution during an ongoing combat between Israel and Hamas, which according to the United Nations, has created a food crisis in the enclave that is home to 2.3 million people.
Israeli opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) raised concerns about the security aspects of such operations when he spoke to his faction on Monday in the Knesset. In a speech attacking the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lapid said, it was “not qualified” to run the war or the necessary diplomacy around it.
Lapid pointed to the issue of the airdrops as an example, explaining that “the Americans and the Jordanians airdrop into Gaza did not go through a security inspection. Americans have lost faith in this government. They have lost faith in Netanyahu’s ability to run a campaign.”
Israel inspects goods entering Gaza
The Israeli office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT,) which is tasked with oversight concerning goods entering Gaza from air, sea, and land, said however that Israel had been involved in the inspections. “The aid packages that are airdropped into the Gaza Strip undergo security checks, in which Israeli officials are also involved.”
COGAT did not elaborate further and neither did the US or Lapid’s office when pressed for more details about how security was handled or will be handled for goods that were airdropped or will be airdropped in the future.
Israel has tightly controlled inspections of goods entering Gaza to ensure that no weapons or materials that could be used to produce weapons are smuggled into the enclave to help Hamas in its war against Israel. This includes an inspection mechanism for goods entering Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah border.
Before the war, there were three land crossings into Gaza, two controlled by Israel at Kerem Shalom and Erez and a third at Rafah under Egyptian control. Rafah and Erez were considered pedestrian crossings while Kerem Shalom was the main avenue goods were transferred into the enclave. Israel for security reasons has long controlled Gaza airspace and sea space. There is no port in Gaza for large-scale cargo ships and Gaza had an airport only briefly from 1998-2001.
The Jordanian and US airdrops mark the first time in over two decades that non-Israeli aircraft have flown over Gaza airspace.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.
David Turner is a globe-trotting journalist who brings a global perspective to our readers. With a commitment to shedding light on international events, he explores complex geopolitical issues, offering a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25449825/65cf71ee2368ff61aaf13de7_1.jpg)
