27 children have been murdered by the IOF every day for 650 days in Gaza (UNICEF)

[Wedonttalkaboutboris]

Facts:

• At least 15,000 children have been killed since the war began in October 2023.
• Many have died in airstrikes, building collapses, or stampedes at aid sites.
• Thousands more have been injured, often with life-altering wounds, burns, or amputations.
• Gaza is facing famine-like conditions.
• Children are eating grass, leaves, or going days without food.
• Severe malnutrition is widespread, especially in northern Gaza. Babies and toddlers are dying of hunger-related causes.
• Nearly all children in Gaza are now considered to have signs of acute psychological trauma:
• Nightmares
• Bedwetting
• Non-responsiveness (shutdown/dissociation)
• Panic at loud sounds
• Many have lost one or both parents, siblings, or entire families.
• Most hospitals have been bombed or shut down.
• Children can’t access basic care, vaccines, or treatment for chronic illnesses.
• Wounded kids are operated on without anesthesia in some cases.
• Over 1 million children have been displaced—many multiple times.
• Families sleep in tents, rubble, or outdoors with no clean water or toilets.
• Nearly all schools have been shut down, destroyed, or turned into shelters.
• Many teachers and schoolchildren have been killed.
• A whole generation risks growing up with no access to education or safety.
• Children are drinking dirty water, leading to diarrheal diseases and infections.
• Outbreaks of hepatitis, lice, and scabies are widespread.
• Even in declared “safe zones” or aid areas, children have been shot, suffocated in stampedes, or killed by nearby strikes.
• Some have died while queuing for water or food.

“There is no safe place left for children in Gaza. They are being killed, starved, maimed, and psychologically shattered. This is not a humanitarian crisis—this is a crisis of humanity.”
— Save the Children, July 2025

I think it is pretty clear that if aid is dropped into Gaza it will cause deaths. Not just from aid crushing people but also because of the crowding that will happen due to the fact that people are starving. The people who end up getting the aid will be most likely the ones with arms, whether Hamas or some of the other militias including those armed by Israel.

It also won’t help the most desperate % of the population who will need medical care to recover from acute malnutrition. Which seems to be 90,000 people now.

But all and all it is better than absolutely nothing. As long as the countries involved do not pretend that it is solving anything and keep up the pressure for proper aid delivery.

I agree it will cause chaos and potentially more deaths. As for "better than nothing" the problem with that is that other Countries such as UK, will then say "well that's that, we've done our bit now, problem solved ". Its basically a way to let themselves off the hook.

Yes, it's not about being negative Nellie's. It is acknowledging that the Israeli government conceding to air drops after much pressure, is like putting a band aid on a gunshot wound and saying stop complaining now.

The lack of aid being air dropped into Gaza will also cause malnutrition and death.

To me, it's better to do it than not to do it so I support the fact the UK government is working with Jordan on plans to drop aid into Gaza by air.

And no, I don't think it's solving the problem, only helping it slightly and I believe that is Starmer's take on it also.

I fail to understand how you can think it will cause "potentially more deaths" than doing nothing.

The UN has 6,000 trucks waiting for permission to enter Israel in Egypt and Jordan.

Letting them in and allowing the UN to distribute the aid is a far better means to combat starvation and famine, than a few inefficient and risky airdrops.

This is another diversion by the Israeli government from addressing the actual problem effectively.

Thankfully it is being called out by those with experience in aid distribution who can see right through this. Our government should take heed from the experts and demand that Israel allow in aid properly.

I heard someone from the UN speaking in the radio this morning and like they said these airdrops are ridiculous. There is a simple answer to stopping the starvation. Open the crossings, let aid in and let the UN do what they have done in multiple conflict zones around, what they are trained to do and what they do well.

The fact that isnt being done is obscene and all of these countries talking about airdropping food in instead of pressurising Israel to do the right thing and let the UN do their work are complicit in it.

You said very similar things about the GHF and look how well that turned out.

We should not have to accept what Israel does and doesn't allow in terms of aid distribution. The only method they are allowing is not what is needed so a better option needs to be negotiated. This is life and death for people why should we accept a process that does not address that?

@LipstickLessons I don’t accept that the UK becomes complicit by helping with the air drops. The government can still pressure Israel to let the UN distribute aid, it’s not an either/or situation.

What the UK doesn’t have is the ability to make the Israel government do anything. So despite international pressure, Israel will not go back to the old system until a ceasefire is agreed.

Absolutely. It just demonstrates that the Israeli government does not care about people starving because they've no interest in implementing the best way to help, it's just a PR job

I thought the GHF was better for Gazans than doing nothing to distribute aid which was the only other option on the table at the time.

Yes I have been very disappointed with how the GHF has worked in practice and with the fact they didn’t build more distribution sites. But I still believe it was better than doing nothing and that it has partly been sabotaged by Hamas militants & propaganda.

You say “we should not have to accept what Israel does” but being realistic, we can’t stop what a government does in their own country. We can disagree with it & protest against it but we can’t stop it. I’m pragmatic so prefer to stick to the realities of situations and say - humanitarian aid by air drops sounds a good idea compared to the alternative which is the GHF or nothing.

You say “we should not have to accept what Israel does” but being realistic, we can’t stop what a government does in their own country

But that stance is not good enough when that government is starving a population. The UK US EU need to ramp up the pressure and not just sit back and accept the airdrops as a solution. It is disingenuous to say they've no clout in this they absolutely do and there are measures they can put in place to "persuade" the Israeli government but they're choosing to.

Please post a link to where these doctors have reported SEEING Israeli snipers shooting children.

These are the same doctors who have never seen Hamas, or even mention Hamas, funnily enough.

That's where we will have to agree to disagree. My post was about the UK and I don't think we can persuade the Israeli government to return to their old method of aid distribution. And I haven't heard anyone - certainly not Starmer - suggest that it is the solution to hungry people in Gaza but it could be a help to many.

I also don't understand how they see these snipers from their place of work in a hospital. I think what they mean is they hear reports of snipers from the Palestinians they are treating, and they choose to believe them.

I can't see any reason for IDF snipers to target children. Far more likely they have been shot accidentally in my opinion or targeted by Hamas who are very cynical about their own people dying as martyrs for the cause.

Absolutely this. Everyone knows that the airdrops are not even nearly sufficient. We know what will work. We have an agency willing to do that work. The only problem is the Israeli government not allowing it. People are starving. Swift, harsh sanctions on the government responsible for this forced starvation is surely the only reasonable option?

You say it's the "only problem" but it's also a pretty insurmountable problem that other countries can't make the Israel government do anything.

Arguably maybe the US could... I don't know... but certainly the UK can't.

You say it's the "only problem" but it's also a pretty insurmountable problem that other countries can't make the Israel government do anything.
Well at the very least they could at least bloody try!

I think if the UK and the EU put proper pressure on Israel it could make a difference. They’ve done very little so far.

It would be certainly more worthwhile to spend time pausing trade agreements and implementing other pressures on Israel
than the time and money it will take to do air drops which sound like putting a plaster on a mutilated body.

news.sky.com/video/israeli-military-show-journalists-aid-waiting-inside-gaza-as-un-says-people-dying-of-hunger-13401435

https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1948401395511550427

Of course more damn lies from Israel.

I wonder when we’ll see the reports from these journalists? Will they reflect their publisher’s narrative?

Military experts have been allowed in (who’d I personally trust more than a journalist) and their reports have not made it into the MSM because you could presume they don’t reflect what has been previously printed, so awkward…………

The UK has suspended negotiations over a new free trade deal with Israel since May, to no obvious effect.

Air dropping aid into Gaza will have an immediate effect on the people receiving it (again, I'm not suggesting it is going to be enough on its own).

That is was nothing, utterly ineffective. They need to suspend current trade agreements. Sanction more individuals. A full arms embargo. Suspend academic co-operation. Ban trade and investment in the OPT. That’s from the top of my head now but the point is , as israel is a a close friend of the UK there is a whole toolkit of options that can be used to progressively put pressure on them.

So we should drop tiny amounts of aid in for the starving children to squabble over and keep calling the country purposefully starving children allies then?

They have seen and treated the injuries and their expertise (which I suspect is far far superior to yours ) allows them to work out what happened. Oh and Doctors don't tend to be pathological liars.