Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, (L) and French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot chair a conference on Palestine and a two-state solution at the United Nations on July 29, 2025 in New York City. STEPHANIE KEITH / AFP
France will air-drop 40 metric tons of aid into Gaza from Friday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday, July 29, as UN-backed experts warned the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory was slipping into famine. Concern has escalated in the past week about hunger in the Gaza Strip after more than 21 months of war that started after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel in October 2023.
"We will organize, starting from Friday, and in close coordination with the Jordanian authorities, four flights carrying 10 metric tons of supplies each for the Gaza Strip," Barrot told the BFMTV television broadcaster. But Barrot said France also had aid waiting to cross into Gaza by road that was being blocked in northern Egypt.
"The air route is useful, but it is not sufficient," the minister added. "Fifty-two metric tons of French humanitarian freight are blocked in El-Arish," an Egyptian city some 50 kilometres from the border, he added. "It is therefore essential that the Israeli authorities finally agree to reopen land access to the Gaza Strip sufficiently so as to alleviate the atrocious suffering of its civilian populations," he added.
