Witnessing the hellscape of Gaza from the sky, it’s amazing anyone could survive… Mail writer joins Jordanian air force aid drop into the region

The view of North Gaza from a height of 900 meters is apocalyptic. Not a single building seems unscathed by the violence that erupts here.

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble and gray dust. The crazy crisscrossing tank tracks indicate the bloody offensives that have taken place over the past five months. It’s hard to imagine anyone could survive in this hellish landscape.

The Mail was one of just a handful of publications granted access by the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) to participate in an aid drop over Gaza on Tuesday.

Our aerial photographs show the extent of the destruction this narrow area has caused since the start of the war.

The flight is part of a multinational effort to get much-needed food supplies into the besieged enclave.

Aid is loaded into the C-130 by Jordanian pilots at King Abdullah II Air Base before it departs for Gaza

The life-saving supplies are pushed out of the back of the military aircraft in the photo above

The Gaza Strip has been heavily bombed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in response to Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage.

About 134 hostages remain in Gaza, although more than half are feared dead. Last week the UN said it had “clear” information that hostages were victims of sexual violence.

Aid flights from the US, Egypt and Belgium were also in the air on Tuesday. Britain, the Netherlands and the UAE have also sent flights.

“We are proud to be part of this,” said an RJAF pilot. ‘But it’s not enough. It is not enough.’

What cannot be understood from the air is the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding on the ground. About 300,000 people are believed to be trapped in northern Gaza – a part of the Gaza Strip that aid agencies say is impossible to reach.

Food is so scarce that people are forced to eat animal feed. At least 20 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration in the Kamal Adwan and Shifa hospitals in the north, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. Most of the dead are children.

Aid agencies have warned that air drops – each containing enough food for 6,500 people – should be a last resort because they are inefficient and dangerous.

Five people were killed on Friday when the parachute of a package on a flight from another country failed to open.

A ripple of relief went through the crew during Tuesday’s flight when a pilot raised eight fingers after the fall, indicating that all parachutes had indeed opened.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that famine is being “used as a weapon of war” with aid routes over land “artificially closed” by Israel.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 31,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7. The IDF claims that a third of those killed are terrorists.

Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Middle East, told the Mail that cutting aid should not be seen as an alternative solution to aid distribution. ‘They are an addition.

Jordanian pilots take a break between loading humanitarian aid onto a C-130 at King Abdullah II Air Base

This reaching photo, released by the Jordanian military on March 5, 2024, shows humanitarian aid being dropped from a military plane over the Gaza Strip

Palestinians run through a street as humanitarian aid is dropped in Gaza City on March 1, 2024

Footage taken by the Jordanian Air Force and provided to reporter Charlie Faulkner of their Aid-drop flight over Gaza

Jordanian pilots load relief supplies bound for Gaza into a C-130 at King Abdullah II Air Base

A member of the Jordan Royal Air Force prepares the plane for departure. The cargo was dropped over Gaza

Journalist Charlie Faulkner joins the Aid flight over Gaza and captures the destruction of Gaza below from her window

This photo taken from Israel’s southern border with the Gaza Strip shows humanitarian aid being dropped over Palestinian territory on March 13, 2024.

It costs $180,000 per flight, and no one knows where (the aid) is landing because of the weather,” Mr McGoldrick said, adding that it is unlikely the vulnerable will be able to run to the landing sites and fight their way through the crowds .

The Rafah border crossing is the only access point for goods on the ground. Mr McGoldrick said opening other border crossings “depends on… ceasefire talks.”

The IDF has denied claims that it is blocking aid, telling the Mail that it is “carrying out humanitarian operations and will continue to do so.”

Meanwhile, ten warehouses of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO) are bursting at the seams with boxes of aid.

Compared to the flight on which the Post was a passenger – a C-130 carrying eight pallets – trucks can deliver 22 and a convoy consists of at least 14 vehicles.

‘If a ceasefire was agreed, we could send all the stuff; medical, aid, food,” said Ahmed Abu Alhaija, who manages the JHCO warehouses.

It comes as the IDF investigates whether it killed Marwan Issa, leader of Hamas’ armed wing, during an attack on a building in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday. Issa, 59, is believed to have masterminded the October 7 attack.

Meanwhile, another militant, Hadi Mustafa, was reportedly taken out in a drone strike on the Lebanese city of Tire yesterday.

On Tuesday, a Hamas spokesman rejected claims that the group had accepted in principle a US proposal for a six-week ceasefire.

However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last night that “a strong ceasefire proposal is currently on the table.”