France will conduct an airlift of 40 tons of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, announced Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, as UN-backed experts warn that the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave is on the brink of starvation, AFP reported.

Concerns about hunger in Gaza have intensified over the past week after more than 21 months of war, which began following the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel in October 2023.

“We will organize, in close coordination with Jordanian authorities, four flights carrying 10 tons of aid each to the Gaza Strip,” Barrot said in an interview with BFMTV.

However, the minister noted that France also has aid awaiting land passage but is currently blocked in northern Egypt.

“The air route is useful but insufficient,” Barrot emphasized.

“Fifty-two tons of French humanitarian cargo are blocked in El-Arish”—an Egyptian city located about 50 kilometers from the Gaza border—he added.

“That is why it is essential that Israeli authorities finally agree to open sufficient land access to the Gaza Strip to alleviate the horrific suffering of the civilian population,” Barrot further stated.

Earlier in the day, a French diplomatic source stressed that land deliveries are “undoubtedly the most effective solution for the mass and unobstructed provision of vital humanitarian aid urgently needed by the population.”

British authorities announced they have already conducted their first airlift of humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that two German transport planes are already en route to Jordan and will begin air deliveries of aid to Gaza “at the latest by the weekend, possibly as early as tomorrow.”

Humanitarian organizations warn that “mass starvation” affects more than two million residents of the territory. In recent days, Israel has allowed more trucks with aid into Gaza, but according to humanitarian agencies, authorities can still do more to speed up border inspections and open additional crossing points. | BGNES