US Carries Out First Airdrop of Humanitarian Aid for Gaza
2 March 2024
Updated 19 minutes ago
The US has carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid for Gaza, with more than 30,000 meals parachuted in by three military planes. The operation, carried out jointly with Jordan’s air force, was the first of many announced by President Joe Biden. He promised to step up aid after at least 112 people were killed as crowds rushed a convoy on Thursday.
Humanitarian Efforts Strengthened
The airdrop comes as a top US official said the framework of a deal for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza was in place. On Saturday, C-130 transport planes dropped more than 38,000 meals along the coastline of the territory, US Central Command said in a statement. “These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors and routes,” it added. Other countries including the UK, France, Egypt, and Jordan have previously airdropped aid into Gaza, but this is the first by the US.
Efficiency of Airdrops in Question
Aid agencies have said that airdrops are an inefficient way of delivering aid. Displaced Gaza resident Medhat Taher told Reuters news agency that such a method was woefully inadequate. “Will this be enough for a school? Is this enough for 10,000 people?” he said. “It’s better to send aid via crossings and better than airdropping via parachutes.”
Continued Efforts and Dialogues
In his statement on Friday, President Biden said the US would “insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need”. Meanwhile, a Biden administration official said on Saturday that Israel had “more or less accepted” a deal on a new ceasefire. US Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz in Washington on Monday to discuss a truce and other issues, Reuters quotes a White House official as saying.
Famine Crisis Looms in Gaza
The UN’s World Food Programme has warned that a famine is imminent in northern Gaza, which has received very little aid in recent weeks, and where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water.
This article was originally published on [News Website’s name] on 2 March 2024.
