More and more children are starving to death in Gaza. At the same time, pressure is increasing for the US to do more to stop the war. The United States is Israel’s closest ally. And annually contributes billions of dollars in arms support to Israel. On Friday, the White House decided that the United States will drop food from planes over the Gaza Strip. The first plane drop on Saturday was 38,000 meals – and the pictures went around the world. That provokes Gudrun Bertinussen in the aid organization CARE. Gudrun Bertinussen, foreign manager Care Norway. Photo: Irene Rønold/CARE Norway / – This is sad and it is undignified. It is a delusion to believe that this is real help, she says to news. She calls it a waste of emergency aid. – The images of airdrops over Gaza give the impression that aid is now reaching the hungry, to hungry children and women. It doesn’t, says Bertinussen. Palestinian children in a food queue in Rafah Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters – The entire aid system has broken down. Then you get a light show with spectacular emergency aid broadcasts thrown at a starving people, says Bertinussen. People on the ground in Gaza also say it is difficult to get hold of the meals that are dropped from the air. – We need more help and a better system. We go out hoping to find food, but we return empty-handed. We get nothing, says Mahmoud Freh to news’s team in Gaza. We come home empty-handed, says Mahmoud Frej in Gaza City to news. Photo: Mansour Hamdan / news Dependent on aid After nearly five months of war, over 2 million people are completely dependent on emergency aid to survive. Jordan, France and several other countries also drop food from the air in despair over closed Israeli borders. The United States began sending aid from the air on Friday 1 March. Photo: AP But it is far less efficient than sending food in on trucks. The USA’s first drop of 38,000 meals could fit on 1–2 trucks, estimates Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council. There are many hundreds of cars fully loaded with food and emergency aid on the border with Gaza. – We have people at the Rafagrensen who stand there with 800 other trailers to drive in more hygiene material. There are 2,500–3,000 more trailers there waiting, says Gudrun Bertinussen. Children wait for distribution of food in Gaza. Photo: Reuters But Israel won’t let them in. The number of cars allowed in has decreased, while hunger in Gaza is increasing. This is shown by figures from the UN agency OCHA. Israel says it must check all the cars so weapons are not smuggled in. But Bertinussen, who has worked in Gaza for many years, does not buy this argument. – They have been checking and letting cars in since 2006. They can do this, she says. Food drops for frustrated voters At the same time that US fighter jets drop food over Gaza, it is to a large extent arms support from the US that keeps the war going. Every year, the USA gives around NOK 40 billion in assistance to Israel. Most of this is military support. Joe Biden on his way out of a car Photo: AP/NTB The USA is Israel’s most important supporter. And although a majority of Americans support Israel, there is growing frustration among many Democratic voters. In the nomination election in the important swing state of Michigan, 13 percent of Democrats voted so-called “uncommitted”, a protest against Biden’s Middle East policy. In Minnesota, the figure was 19 percent. Hilde Restad, associate professor at Oslo Nye Høyskole, says the food drops over Gaza are unlikely to convince a disappointed democratic left wing. – My impression is that it will be ridiculed a bit. Because it is seen as far too little, far too late, says Restad to news. Hilde Restad Photo: Martin Holvik Can follow its own laws Because the US can do much more than drop food from planes, Restad points out. They can set conditions for the arms deliveries. They can refrain from supporting Israel in the UN. Or they can just follow their own laws: – According to their own guidelines, the United States must not provide military aid to countries that prevent the importation of humanitarian aid from the United States. They are also not allowed to provide military aid to countries that violate basic human rights, says Restad. – So these laws are already here. You just have to use them, says Restad. Preventing humanitarian aid can be considered a war crime. Why doesn’t Biden use these laws that are actually there? – One explanation is that Biden does not want to. The other explanation is that he feels he cannot, for domestic political reasons.
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