Summary
France will airdrop 40 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza starting Friday.
Four flights, each carrying 10 tons of food, are planned.
Flights coordinated closely with Jordanian authorities for safe delivery.
French aid blocked at Gaza border stresses need for land access.
The French Foreign Minister urges Israel to reopen land access to Gaza.
Noting that 52 metric tons of French humanitarian cargo are currently halted just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, he emphasized that the air option is "useful" but "not sufficient."
“We will organize, starting Friday and in close coordination with Jordanian authorities, four flights carrying 10 tons of food each into the Gaza Strip,”
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told French broadcaster BFM TV, as he is co-chairing a high-level conference on a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at UN headquarters in New York.
“It is therefore essential that Israeli authorities finally agree to reopen land access to Gaza in a sufficiently meaningful way to ease the horrific suffering of the civilian population there,”
Barrot said.
By building momentum with Britain's announcement that it is considering recognizing the state of Palestine, he further emphasized that they had met and "even surpassed" the objectives they had set.
“Other countries are following suit,”
Barrot said.
“In short, we have revived a political horizon: the two-state solution, which was on the verge of collapse.”
How will France ensure the safety of civilians during the aid airdrops?
France plans to ensure the safety of civilians
during the upcoming humanitarian aid airdrops into Gaza by taking the
"greatest precautions to ensure the safety of the population,"
according to French diplomatic sources. These precautions are intended to
protect the civilian population while delivering the essential supplies amid
the severe humanitarian crisis in the region.
The aid will be dropped in special containers
equipped with parachutes to facilitate safe descent. France has emphasized the
urgent need for Israel to open land crossing points to enable more unhindered
and sustained access to humanitarian aid.
The airdrops follow similar recent efforts by
Egypt and are part of broader international relief operations aimed at
alleviating famine-like conditions in Gaza.