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Israel says it has begun aid airdrops into Gaza
Israel’s military says it has “recently” made an airdrop of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, following weeks of international pressure and a growing hunger crisis in the Palestinian territory.
In a statement early on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airdrop “included seven packages of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food”.
Israel earlier said it was prepared to open humanitarian corridors to allow UN convoys into Gaza.
This came amid calls for Israel to let more aid into Gaza and amid warnings of mass starvation following months of limited supply to the territory’s two million people. Israel denied what it called “the false claim of deliberate starvation” in Gaza.
In its statement, the IDF said the airdrop “was carried out in co-ordination with international organisations and led by Cogat”, referring to the Israeli military body which oversees the entry of aid into Gaza.
The military also posted a video purportedly showing a plane dropping the aid. The footage has not been independently verified.
Palestinian officials are yet to comment on the reported airdrop into Gaza.
Late on Saturday, the IDF said it had “begun a series of actions aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip”, and was “prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas”.
It also stated that it had resumed supplying power to a desalination plant in Gaza, which it said would “serve about 900,000 residents”.
Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March, and resumed with new restrictions in May.
Along with the US, it backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and allowed it to operate in Gaza.
There have been almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking aid since the GHF began operations in late May. Witnesses have told the BBC most have been shot by Israeli forces. Israel has said that its troops fire warning shots and has disputed reported death tolls. It accuses Hamas of instigating chaos near the aid points.
The UN, aid groups and some of Israel’s allies have blamed the country for a growing food crisis in Gaza, and called for the unrestricted entry and delivery of aid as the Hamas-run health ministry said dozens of people were dying from malnutrition. On Saturday it put the toll from the last few days at 125, including 85 children.
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the crisis as “man-made mass starvation”.
The IDF said that responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza “lies with the UN and international aid organisations” and added they must “ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas”.
Israel’s apparent concessions on Saturday followed its acceptance of a Jordanian and UAE plan, backed by the UK, to air drop aid into Gaza. Aid agencies however said such moves would do little to mitigate the hunger of Gazans.
The head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini, said air drops were “expensive, inefficient, and can even kill starving civilians” if they did not go according to plan.
Lazzarini said his organisation had “the equivalent of 6,000 trucks” in Jordan and Egypt waiting to enter Gaza, and urged Israel “lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need”.
The BBC spoke to several Gazans on Saturday who worried air drops could cause “serious harm”.
One man living in the north of the strip told BBC Arabic’s Middle East Daily that the process was “unsafe” and “caused numerous tragedies” when similar relief efforts were attempted last year.
“When aid is dropped from the air, it risks landing directly on tents, potentially causing serious harm, including injury or even death,” he said.
Meanwhile, Palestinians are battling dehydration along with starvation. One mother told the BBC she was “living with no food or drink, no food, no bread, not even water.”
Israel launched a war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 59,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
[BBC]
The Commissioner General of Essential Services, Prabath Chandrakeerthi has announced that, after taking into consideration the current fuel situation in Sri Lanka, the Government has decided to declare Wednesdays of every week as a holiday for government sector employees, all government schools, universities, and courts with effect from March 18, 2026, until further notice
The holiday will not apply to essential service sectors including Healthcare, Ports, Water Supply and Customs.
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) biggest port and oil storage facility, Fujairah, and Dubai’s international airport have come under further drone attacks as Iran continues to target Gulf transport and oil infrastructure.
Flights were temporarily suspended on Monday after a fire broke out near the airport after a “drone-related incident”.
A fire also raged after a drone attack on the strategically important port and industrial zone at Fujairah, one of the largest oil storage facilities in the region.
And a rocket attack on a car killed a Palestinian national on the outskirts of the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, the city’s Media Office reported.
The attack occurred in the Al Bahia area, it said.
UAE air defence systems intercepted six ballistic missiles and 21 drones on Monday, the Defence Ministry said. Iran has launched over 1,900 missiles and drones at the UAE since the war between the US and Israel, and Iran, began.
Monday’s drone strike was the third incident since the start of the war near Dubai’s airport, which is the world’s busiest for international passengers.
Some flights were delayed, while others were cancelled altogether, in another hit to the UAE’s image of safety and stability.
The country’s energy sector came under attack as a drone hit an oil storage tanker on Saturday, and another drone hit the oil facilities on Monday, causing a fire.
Oil loading activities at the port were halted for a time while damage assessments were carried out.
Fujairah sits on the UAE’s eastern coast, on the Gulf of Oman – rather than the Persian Gulf – and so vessels do not need to navigate the Strait of Hormuz to reach it.
The location means the port plays a “crucial” role in “helping keep global supplies moving” when the Strait of Hormuz is blocked by Iran, Dubai-based Justin Harper, editor of CEO Middle East – who regularly speaks to Dubai’s oil industry executives – told the BBC.
“If tensions with Iran disrupt the chokepoint, the UAE can still export oil through Fujairah via pipelines from the oilfields in Abu Dhabi,” he said.
The port city is “ideally placed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz”, said Dubai-based oil analyst Matt Stanley, who works for commodities data provider Kpler.
“The UAE’s state oil company Adnoc have their oil tankers there, it is crude grade oil which is what the Asian buyers want.”
Iran hitting a storage tanker and oil facilities at Fujairah “shows the vulnerability of Gulf infrastructure”, Stanley told the BBC.
“Iran wants to disrupt the flow of energy”.
The port city is close to India and the “first stop out of the Middle East on the way to Singapore and China”, Stanley said.
“Fujairah is on the old Silk Road, the maritime route, and it picked up a lot of business bunkering – that is providing fuel, food, water – for container ships that have been at sea for 25 or 30 days.”
Fujairah is like a “huge vending machine” for ships, Stanley added.
Despite the attacks on Dubai, Harper says the business community there is “resilient”. Restaurants have been offering deals to get people back into restaurants and “the malls still seem to be busy”. People “underestimate Dubai and its ability to survive a downturn”, he added.
Last week the UAE’s Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh vowed in a BBC interview that her country would bounce back from the conflict, insisting that its economy was “resilient”.
(BBC)
As a key frontline stakeholder in the national mission, ‘A Nation United,’ the Navy continues to conduct maritime operations in the waters surrounding the island, in coordination with other law enforcement agencies.
During a recent successful operation on the high seas south of Sri Lanka, the Navy intercepted a local multi-day fishing trawler and apprehended five suspects (05) in connection with the smuggling of a stock of suspected drugs.
During a special inspection at the Dickowita fisheries harbour today (16 Mar26), the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) confirmed the presence of over one hundred and thirty-three (133)
kilograms of heroin.
The Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd), accompanied by the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Kanchana Banagoda, was present in Dickowita to inspect the seized items.
Addressing the media, the Deputy Minister stated that the tri-forces, particularly the Navy, along with the Coast Guard, Police, and other law enforcement agencies, are executing the
government’s vision for national security. He noted that the recent naval operation in the southern seas, which seized a large consignment of narcotics and weapons, demonstrates the government’s success in combating criminal networks involved in narcotics, arms and human trafficking.
He added that such successful outcomes result from the Navy’s meticulous planning, surveillance, intelligence analysis, and inter-agency coordination. He affirmed that no leniency will be shown to drug trafficking networks, and conveyed admiration, on behalf of the President, for the distinctive contribution made by the Sri Lanka Navy, in collaboration with other stakeholders,
towards ensuring public safety and protecting the younger generation from the menace of drugs.
Highlighting the scale of the Navy’s impact, he revealed that naval operations in 2025 seized narcotics valued over Rs. 75 billion, and operations so far in 2026 have seized over Rs. 20 billion worth of drugs.
The Deputy Minister warned that traffickers are increasingly using the guise of legitimate fishing activities to smuggle narcotics. Besides, he emphasized that the responsibility lies not only with law enforcement agencies but with all sectors of society to eradicate the networks associated with drug trafficking. He issued a firm directive to traffickers, dealers, and distributors to “quit,” asserting that there is no loophole, whether by sea or air, that the security forces cannot close. He
further urged drug users to abandon this destructive habit.
He announced plans for legal amendments to impose stricter penalties for drug offenses. Noting that law enforcement agencies have operational autonomy, he appealed to the public to report information on drug trafficking to hotlines 1818 and 1997.
He also commended the media for their responsible reporting in educating the public on the drug menace.
The trawler, the suspects, the communication equipment and the stock of narcotics held in this operation were handed over to the PNB for onward investigation and legal proceedings.
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