U.S. service members receive humanitarian aid, which was airlifted over Gaza on March 1 and unloaded on a cargo plane. (Christopher Hubenthal/US Air Force/Manual/Reuters)

The United States has joined several countries in providing air aid to Gaza, which is mired in a humanitarian crisis.

Ground aid deliveries are severely restricted by Israel and fall far short of what is needed to prevent famine in the enclave, so these airdrops are expected to provide a lifeline to civilians.

But the United Nations and aid agencies have questioned how effective they are at defusing the situation, and their dangers were made clear on Friday when parachutes malfunctioned and aid drops were launched from the sky at breakneck speed, killing five unsuspecting people.

Photos and Traps: Airdrops bypass the rigorous screening at ground checkpoints. But despite this advantage, aid agencies say its disadvantages outweigh its advantages.

For starters, they are more expensive. The World Food Program says airdrops cost seven times more than ground deliveries. They also have very low delivery capacity. For example, a truck can deliver almost 10 times the amount an airplane can deliver: roughly 20 to 30 metric tons, according to the UN.

According to Richard Cowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, “Aid workers always complain that airdrops are good photo opportunities but a terrible way to deliver aid.

Experts have also questioned whether there are plans to help once it lands. UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, said airlifts often end in chaos.