You published a photograph of aid being airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan (Palestinians wary as Israel begins military pauses to allow ‘minimal’ aid into Gaza, 27 July). Any aid is welcome, but they dropped 25 tonnes in one day, about 11 grams per Palestinian, barely a couple of teaspoonfuls. That’s not going to keep people alive, and neither are a few truckloads delivered over a limited period.
In 1984-85, I served with Operation Bushel, the RAF detachment in Ethiopia that flew aid into areas of famine. The operation was approved by Margaret Thatcher, despite Ethiopia’s government being a brutal regime propped up by the Soviet Union. Delivering aid by air is difficult, risky and expensive; it’s appropriate only when there is no other option.
