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US service members secured humanitarian aid, which was to be dropped over Gaza from a cargo plane on 1 March. (Christopher Hubenthal/US Air Force/Handout/Reuters)

The United States has joined several other countries in providing air aid to Gaza, which is facing a humanitarian crisis.

Ground aid delivery is severely restricted by Israel and falls far short of the amount needed to prevent famine in the enclave, so these airdrops are expected to provide a lifeline to civilians.

But the United Nations and aid agencies have raised questions about how effective they are at easing the situation, and their risks were clearly demonstrated on Friday when faulty parachutes led to aid pallets being rapidly launched from the sky, killing five people. Died.

Photos and web: Airdrops bypass the often rigorous checks carried out at ground checkpoints, so they are clearly a quick way to deliver supplies to a conflict zone. But despite this benefit, aid agencies say its harms outweigh its benefits.

For starters, they’re more expensive. The World Food Program says airdrops cost seven times more than ground delivery. Their distribution capacity is also very limited. For example, according to the United Nations, a truck is capable of delivering about 10 times the volume of a plane: about 20 to 30 metric tons.

According to Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, “Aid workers always complain that airdrops are great photo opportunities but a terrible way to deliver aid.”

Experts have also questioned whether countries have any plans for assistance once it lands on the ground. Michael Fakhri, the UN special envoy on the right to food, says airdrops often result in chaos.