In the past few hours, six countries have airdropped 136 food shipments to residents of the northern and southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army announced, DPA reported, BTA reported.

In cooperation with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, France, Germany and Belgium carried out the air support operations, which are led by the Israeli Coordination Agency for the Palestinian Territories, COGAT.

On its Telegram channel, the Israeli army (IDF) said that the airdrop of aid was a continuation of"actions aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip."

Two A400M transport aircraft of the German Armed Forces dropped 44 pallets of food, medical supplies and other aid weighing about 19 tons over Gaza.

Another such action is planned for early next week.

According to the UN, the Gaza Strip is on the brink of famine. Israel controls all access points to the Mediterranean coastal territory and for several months has not allowed any or only minimal aid supplies to pass through, DPA recalls.

Israel said this was intended to increase pressure on the Islamist organization Hamas to release the last hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

Since last weekend, following growing global criticism of the plight of the Palestinian civilian population, Israel has been allowing greater supplies via land routes and supporting airdrops of aid.