Starving Palestinians in Gaza Scramble for Aid Drops

Gaza Strip, Palestine — The whole population of the Gaza Strip – over two million residents – is now facing starvation from the Israeli military bombardment, blockade and siege on Gaza. As the Israeli military and far-right Zionist settlers block aid shipments bound for destroyed neighborhoods throughout Gaza, Arab countries and the United States have been doing nominal air drops of food aid.

Despite the humanitarian ideals behind dropping food and other aid from military planes, the reality is that the portions of aid are minimal compared to the need. Furthermore, some of the parachutes on the dropped packages have failed and at least five Palestinians have been killed from the aid drops. Infrastructure like solar panels at the Baptist Hospital have also been destroyed from the aid drops.

This is the first time in recorded history that 100% of a population has been “severely food insecure,” according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Israel’s policy of using forced starvation is impacting every Gazan. A recently published Unicorn Riot special in our new series “Visualizing an Era of Genocide” spotlights how young journalist, Aboud Battah, is documenting the experience of survival under forced starvation.

As of March 20, nearly 32,000 Palestinians have been killed by the actions of the Israeli military over the last five and a half months — a majority of them being women and children. Israel is currently being investigated for war crimes and committing genocide on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank.