KUALA LUMPUR: Kapar member of parliament Dr Halimah Ali, in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, questioned why food and humanitarian aid to Gaza cannot be sent by air.
She said based on her experience in helping victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster previously, air routes were used to deploy aid.
However, she conceded that such an initiative would require international cooperation so that aircraft carrying the aid would not be shot down by Israel's Zionist regime.
"If they were to go by land, it would mean that the trucks which want to enter (Gaza) would be queuing up as a result of the blockade. Isn't there a way for aid from the international community to be delivered by air?
"In my experience during the tsunami and others, they would drop (humanitarian aid) from above. But there has to be an international understanding in humanitarian terms to make Israel understand.
"Let's hope (Israel) doesn't shoot down the food aid and medicine," she said.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir replied: "That would be ideal. We agree (with Dr Halimah's suggestion).
"If the airspace opens up, it would enable aid to be delivered that way.
"That would be the best but that's not what is happening. In reality, what's being delivered are not food but bombs upon Gaza's surface," he said.
