Last week, I saw aid dropping from the sky near my central Gaza neighbourhood of az-Zawayda. Neither I nor any of my neighbours had the courage to chase after it because we knew that the moment it hit the ground, a battle would erupt. If the aid survived the air, it wouldn’t survive the looters.It is almost always the same scene. Gunfire breaks out the second the plane drops the boxes. Armed gangs are already waiting on the ground, ready to take the goods by force. Whoever gets there first, whoever shoots first, also walks away with the food. It is never those who need it the most.Later, we would see those same “aid boxes” in the market in Deir el-Balah, their contents up for sale at exorbitant prices.Recently, my little brother was craving a biscuit. I saw biscuits from an aid package at the market and asked for the price. It was 20 shekels ($5) for a biscuit, something we could not afford.The aid dropped from the sky not only fails to feed the hungry, but it also kills them. On Monday, an airdropped pallet hit a tent for the displaced and killed Uday al-Quraan, a medic working at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. A week ago …
