U.S. aid policy on Gaza 'absurd' given its military support for Israel, UN food expert says

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A United Nations expert on Friday criticized U.S. efforts to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza, such as plans for a temporary port and recent airdrops, which he said were "absurd" and "cynical" methods as long as military aid to Israel continues.

Amid warnings of looming famine five months into Israel's campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, the U.S. military has carried out airdrops of meals into Gaza and plans a temporary port for aid imports on its Mediterranean coast.

Aid groups say Israel's near-total blockade of Gaza and the fighting have made it nearly impossible to deliver aid in most of the territory. Many of the estimated 300,000 people still living in northern Gaza have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.

Airdrops in particular "will do very little to alleviate hunger malnutrition and do nothing to slow down famine," Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told reporters in Geneva.

He warned of chaos as starving people joust for supplies. As for the port, he said no one had asked for it. He called the port and airdrops methods of "last resort."

"The time when countries use airdrops and these maritime piers is usually, if not always, in situations when you want to deliver humanitarian aid into enemy territory," Fakhri said.

The U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva was not immediately available to respond to the remarks made late on Friday.

Fakhri, a Lebanese Canadian law professor mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to document and advise on global food security, said such methods made little sense while Washington continues to provide military support to Israel.

U.S. legislation envisages an additional $17.6 billion US in new military assistance to Israel as its war against Hamas continues in response to the group's deadly Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel.

"That's more than allyship. That's a marriage.... It's almost incomprehensible," Fakhri said of U.S. support to Israel, calling the recent aid measures a "performance to try to meet a domestic audience with [U.S. presidential] elections around the corner."

"That's the only rational, coherent interpretation [for these aid announcements] because ... from a humanitarian perspective, from an international perspective, from a human rights perspective, it is absurd in a dark, cynical way," he said.

Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for Save the Children, echoed Fakhri's sentiment that alternate forms of aid deliveries are not as effective as clearing up existing routes that have been blocked by Israel.

"These alternate methods are costly, they're ineffective and they're a distraction from what is really needed, which is safe, unfettered humanitarian access throughout all of Gaza," Al-Awqati told CBC News.