HMCS OTTAWA’s embarked CH-148 Cyclone helicopter “GREYWOLF” conducts maneuvers near HMCS VANCOUVER and MV ASTERIX while the two ships perform a Liquid Replenishment At Sea (L-RAS) during transit of the Pacific Ocean on 20 August 2023. (Aviator Gregory Cole, Canadian Armed Forces Photo)
The Canadian Armed Forces executed an airdrop of nearly 10,000 kilograms of “life-saving” aid to Palestinians in Gaza on Aug. 4, amid a rapidly worsening crisis in the area, Prime Minister Mark Carney says.
“The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating,” Carney said in an X post. “Canada is intensifying our efforts with international partners to develop a credible peace plan and will ensure aid moves forward at the necessary scale.”
As part of that effort, the military deployed a CC-130J Hercules aircraft over the Gaza Strip to carry out the drop, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty said in a statement.
The ministers said “severe challenges” remain in delivering aid to the people of Gaza due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli government. They accused Israel of hindering aid, which constitutes a “violation of international humanitarian law,” adding that humanitarian needs “have reached an unprecedented level.”
The statement echoed similar remarks made by Carney last week when he called the situation in Gaza “intolerable” and accused Israel of violating international law for withholding humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
Anand said in an Aug. 4 social media post that she is in contact with her counterpart in Jordan to ensure Canadian aid reaches Palestinians via air and land.
Israel began military operations in Gaza in October 2023, after the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas raided Israel, killing 1,200 while also taking 251 people hostage. The war has claimed thousands of lives in Gaza as Hamas operates in areas with heavy civilian presence. Most recently, several countries including Canada have criticized Israel for its aid-distribution scheme in Gaza, saying it’s leading to chaos and deaths, while Israel says it needed the scheme to prevent Hamas from hijacking shipments.
Jordan began airdrops of Canadian aid in late July, with photos and videos shared by Anand and Carney showing Canadian-flagged aid pallets being dropped from Jordanian aircraft.
Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini posted Aug. 1 that airdrops are expensive and shouldn’t be used as a replacement for opening land corridors to get aid to Gazan civilians.
“Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks. Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes,” Lazzarini said. “If there is political will to allow airdrops—which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings.”
Just over 86 percent of the 35,968 tonnes of humanitarian aid the U.N. delivered from May 19 to Aug. 4 was intercepted along the distribution route, “either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors,” the agency said. That equals 31,134 tonnes of aid that hasn’t reached the people it was intended for in that time period.
Israel has denied there is famine in Gaza. Israel’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Danny Danon has said shortages are occurring because Hamas is hijacking aid, interrupting distribution, and stopping civilians from getting any of the supplies. Danon said the U.N. has tried to undermine Israeli efforts at humanitarian aid for Gaza from the start and has called for a cease-fire without first demanding the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Anand previously announced $30 million in funding for aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank on July 29, as well as $10 million to support Palestinian Authority governance in the West Bank. This brings Canada’s total aid commitment to Palestinians to $355 million since October 2023, along with more than $99 million pledged by Canada in March of this year to bolster aid efforts by the U.N., World Bank, Red Cross, and various non-governmental organizations in getting aid to Palestinians.
Carney said July 30 that Canada will recognize Palestinian statehood this September at the U.N. General Assembly, conditional upon promises from Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas that any future Palestinian state would be demilitarized and will hold fair elections. The move was welcomed by nations such as Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as a step forward for peace and criticized by Israel and the United States as rewarding Hamas.