On board a Jordanian flight across Israel, airdrop over Gaza’s ruins

Amman, Jordan/sky above Gaza – A hulking military cargo plane sits on the tarmac of a Royal Jordanian Air Force base in the early morning light.

Two maintenance engineers unlock a compartment in the aircraft’s fuselage and disappear behind a metal hood that shelters a complex nest of wires.

The two men, who graduated together from the military academy five years ago, chat with warm familiarity as they perform final preflight checks.

Two Jordanian cargo planes will take off for an aid airdrop over Gaza around midday, followed by four other aircraft from Germany, Egypt and the United States.

They are working on a US turboprop C-130 Hercules, a model often used for airdropping troops, equipment or aid into hard-to-reach locations.