France began a large-scale airdrop of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Friday, deploying four flights from Jordan to deliver 40 tons of food and supplies as the international posture towards the spiraling humanitarian crisis shifted in the face of imminent famine.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the move as part of a plea for Israel to permit full humanitarian access, Reuters reported. The effort is the result of a multinational coalition including Jordan, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
Newsweek reached out to the foreign ministries of France and Israel outside of normal business hours on Saturday afternoon for comment.
Why It Matters
The French aid initiative comes amid escalating warnings from international organizations of severe malnutrition and starvation among Gaza’s 2 million residents.
Humanitarian corridors into Gaza remain largely restricted by Israel, with widespread reports of children dying from hunger-related causes. Efforts like France’s airdrop highlight the international community’s struggle to address what is widely described as a man-made famine, with much of the world’s attention focused on blocked or limited ground aid routes.
The airdrops follow France’s announcement that it intends to formally recognize a Palestinian state, which drew condemnation from some U.S. officials, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, other European nations have discussed or announced intention to recognize a Palestinian state as well as a means of pressuring Israel to act.
Israel, however, has repeatedly rejected claims of forced starvation in Gaza. In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied people are starving, saying Israel takes “thousands of prisoners” from Gaza and photographs them, and you “don’t see one, not one, emaciated.”
Israel has repeatedly said that aid deliveries must be delivered in a “safe framework” that does not give supplies to Hamas and notes that the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) is bringing food into Gaza. Israel has used aid restrictions as a pressure tactic to bring Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, to negotiate the release of hostages that were taken in its October 7, 2023, attack on the country.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
What To Know
Macron confirmed the start of the operation on Friday, writing in a post on X: “Faced with an urgent humanitarian crisis, we just conducted a food airdrop over Gaza. I thank our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, as well as our armed forces for their dedication. But airdrops are not enough. Israel must grant full humanitarian access to address the risk of famine.”
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added in an interview with a local French broadcaster that four flights, each carrying 10 tons of humanitarian supplies, were dispatched from Jordan.
France previously participated in European humanitarian airlifts in October 2023 to provide aid to Gaza through Jordan and Egypt at the start of the conflict that erupted after Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Israel retaliated with strikes on the enclave and then sent troops into the region as officials sought to eliminate Hamas.
Many nations backed Israel’s right to respond to Hamas’ attack, but in recent months the growing humanitarian crisis has shifted opinion and prompted outcry over the deteriorating conditions facing civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has simultaneously begun instituting a daily “tactical pause in military activity” for “humanitarian purposes” in the areas of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Musawi. The practice, first declared last week, was said “to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organization convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip.”
The IDF also said it would begin conducting aid airdrops into Gaza.
Faced with an urgent humanitarian crisis, we just conducted a food airdrop over Gaza.
I thank our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, as well as our armed forces for their dedication.
But airdrops are not enough.… pic.twitter.com/KpWFhOLmbi
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 1, 2025
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump recently told reporters: “It’s terrible what’s occurring there. It’s a terrible thing. People are very hungry. The United States gave $60 million for food and it’s a shame, because I don’t see the results of it. And we gave it to people that in theory are watching over it fairly closely. We wanted Israel to watch over it.”
A U.S. State Department spokesperson previously told Newsweek: “President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio want a better life for the people of Gaza and are acutely aware of the dire humanitarian situation. We are supportive of creative efforts to relieve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Israel’s consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, previously told Newsweek: “There is no deliberate starvation in Gaza, only a deliberate disinformation campaign orchestrated by Hamas and amplified by those who fail to act. Hamas doesn’t care about the suffering of children, only about weaponizing their pain to spread hatred against Israel.”
What Happens Next?
The French government and other European partners have signaled they will continue humanitarian airlifts and pressure Israel to open land routes.
Macron and other Western leaders called for comprehensive humanitarian access beyond airdrops, which the French leader described as inadequate to alleviate famine risk.
