Following warnings from UN-backed experts that the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian region was on the verge of hunger, President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday that France had conducted its first airdrop of humanitarian goods into Gaza.
“Faced with an urgent humanitarian crisis, we just conducted a food airdrop over Gaza,” Macron said in English on X.
“But airdrops are not enough. Israel must grant full humanitarian access to address the risk of famine,” he said.
He thanked France’s Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support.
Several tonnes of food supplies will be delivered to Gaza “over several days”, the French foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement.
“France is also working on land transport, by far the most effective solution for the large-scale and unhindered delivery of humanitarian goods desperately needed by the population,” the statement added.
Earlier this week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that 40 tonnes of assistance would be airdropped into Gaza starting on Friday.
After more than 21 months of conflict, which began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a fatal strike against Israel in October 2023, worries about starvation in the Gaza Strip have increased in the last week.
