Germany has sent two military transport aircraft to Jordan to assist in airdrops of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday.

At a press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Berlin, Merz said the two A400M transporters were on their way to the Middle East.

“This work may only make a small humanitarian contribution, but it is an important signal: We are there, we are in the region, we are helping,” said Merz.

The planes are to be refuelled, filled up and equipped in Jordan before flying over Gaza, possibly as early as Wednesday, and by the weekend at the latest, Merz said.

Jordan is very grateful for the German support for the air drop, said Abdullah. “Air drops are just a drop in the ocean … but it does send a signal of pressure on Israel,” the king said.

The transport of relief goods into the Gaza Strip by truck must quickly be enabled in the large quantities necessary to protect the people in Gaza from starvation, he said.

Merz also reiterated his position that Israel must quickly and decisively improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“It must provide the suffering civilian population with dignified, urgently needed supplies,” Merz said, adding that the federal government welcomes the first steps of the Israeli government.

“But more must follow,” Merz said.

Israel has allowed several hundred trucks with relief goods into the Gaza Strip in recent days, after hardly any food and other aid had arrived there in the months before.

In March, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu imposed a total blockade on the area. From May, it only allowed small amounts of aid deliveries through. This led to a dramatic shortage of food and other essential goods in the Gaza Strip.

Merz had announced the plans for the airlift following a meeting of the Security Cabinet in Berlin on Monday.

Germany has been under pressure to respond to the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign.

Severe shortages of food and water in the sealed-off Palestinian territory have prompted warnings from UN agencies of “catastrophic hunger” and the risk of imminent famine.

Jordan has served as a key hub for humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza and has parachuted food into the territory in recent days.

The French Foreign Office on Tuesday also confirmed it would join in the airlift, seeking to meet the most urgent needs of the civilian population.

The ministry said Paris would take measures to ensure the safety of the population amid the airdrops.

However, it warned that in order to significantly increase aid deliveries to Gaza, Israel must immediately open its land crossings to the territory.

The ministry further reiterated its call for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

Starting last Sunday, aircraft from Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) dropped relief goods over the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday alone, 52 pallets on parachutes from Jordanian, Egyptian and Emirati aircraft landed there.

-dpa