US drops aid into Gaza

(Patria) - The US military conducted its first airdrop of aid into Gaza, three US officials said, after the deaths of Palestinians waiting in line for food highlighted the growing humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave after months of Israeli military operations.

Countries like Jordan and France have already carried out airdrops of aid into Gaza, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says a quarter of the population, 576,000 people, are on the verge of starvation. The United States used three C-130 transport planes, two US officials said, who wished to remain anonymous. It was not immediately clear where the aid was dropped. One of the officials said it included more than 38,000 meals on 66 pallets.

The White House said on Friday that the airdrops would be a continuous effort and that Israel had supported the measure. Under pressure at home and abroad, the Biden administration is considering delivering aid by ship from Cyprus, about 210 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, according to US officials.

The US has been calling on Israel for months to allow more aid into Gaza, which Israel has resisted. Some experts have said the US has been forced to resort to costly, inefficient airdrops, and that it is the latest demonstration of its limited influence on Israel as it continues its war with Hamas.

Washington arms Israel and considers it one of its closest allies in the region. Critics of the airdrops say they have a limited impact on suffering and that it is impossible to ensure that supplies do not fall into the hands of militants.

Before the conflict, Gaza relied on 500 trucks of supplies arriving daily.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Friday that an average of nearly 97 trucks entered Gaza each day during February, compared to about 150 daily in January.

Deliveries via the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza have almost stopped. While trucks have sometimes passed through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, they have been obstructed by Israeli protesters trying to block deliveries. UNRWA says the crossing was closed from February 8-10 and February 15-17.

With people eating animal feed to survive and medics saying children are dying of malnutrition and dehydration, the UN says it faces 'enormous obstacles' in delivering aid. Gaza's health authorities said Israeli forces killed more than 100 people trying to reach an aid convoy near Gaza City on Thursday.

Israel blamed the crowd that gathered around the trucks for most of the deaths, saying the victims were trampled. An Israeli official also said soldiers fired 'in limited response' at the crowd later, which they considered a threat.