GENEVA: The United Nations plans to make its first air drops of food aid in Syria, to Deir Al-Zor, a town of 200,000 besieged by Daesh militants, the chair of a UN humanitarian task force said on Thursday.
UN aid agencies do not have direct access to areas held by Daesh, including Deir Al-Zor, where civilians are facing severe food shortages and sharply deteriorating conditions.
Jan Egeland, speaking to reporters in Geneva a day after UN aid convoys reached five government-besieged areas, said the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) had a “concrete plan” for carrying out the Deir Al-Zor operation in coming days.
He said the WFP hoped to make progress reaching “the poor people inside Deir Al-Zor, which is besieged by Daesh. That can only be done by air drops,” said Egeland.
“It’s a complicated operation and would be in many ways the first of its kind,” Egeland said, giving no details of the air operation which is far more costly than land convoys.
Deir Al-Zor is the main town in a province of the same name. The province links Daesh’s de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa with territory controlled by the militant group in neighboring Iraq.
Egeland chaired a three-hour meeting of the humanitarian task force on Syria, where he said that many member states pledged support for the attempt to reach Deir Al-Zor.
UN to make first air drops of food to besieged in Syria
UN to make first air drops of food to besieged in Syria
Gaza civil defense says 5 killed in Israeli shelling of shelter
- Bassal said the “five martyrs have been recovered as a result of the Israeli shelling of the shelter at the Gaza Martyrs School“
- “Shortly after identification, the troops fired at the suspicious individuals to eliminate the threat,” the military said
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli shelling on a school-turned-shelter killed five people on Friday, while the military said it had fired at “suspicious individuals.”
Spokesman for the agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that “five martyrs have been recovered as a result of the Israeli shelling of the shelter at the Gaza Martyrs School,” in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City.
When asked by AFP about the incident, the Israeli military said that “during operational activity in the area of the Yellow line in the northern Gaza Strip, a number of suspicious individuals were identified in command structures west of the Yellow line.”
Under the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Israeli forces have withdrawn to positions east of the so-called Yellow Line.
“Shortly after identification, the troops fired at the suspicious individuals to eliminate the threat,” the military said, adding that it was “aware of the claim regarding casualties in the area, and the details are under review.”
“The (Israeli military) regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to mitigate harm to the extent possible,” it said.
The ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was to meet officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in Florida on Friday, hoping to salvage efforts to reach the second stage of the deal.
“Our people expect these talks to result in an agreement to put an end to ongoing Israeli lawlessness, halt all violations and compel the occupation to abide by the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement,” Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim told AFP.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Thursday that at least 395 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the territory since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10.
Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire, with the military reporting three soldiers killed in the territory since the truce entered into force.
