US announces airdrops of humanitarian aid in Gaza

Washington, DC: US President Joe Biden has announced that his country will drop humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip amid ongoing efforts to negotiate a temporary ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, The Hill reported. President Biden announced the development during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office. The decision was made with the aim of providing essential humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza.

The airdrops are seen as a means for the US to provide aid to the region as it actively works to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This initiative aims to facilitate the access of essential supplies such as food, medicine and water to Gaza, as well as the release of hostages.
The US military is actively working to carry out the airborne landings in the coming days, a US official said in a statement to CNN.
While airdrops provide a means to deliver aid to the area, they are not seen as a sustainable solution to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. This method can only transport a fraction of the aid that could be delivered by trucks, highlighting the challenges posed by the Israeli government’s reluctance to open more land border crossings for urgently needed aid, as reported by CNN.

The US has called on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to open additional border crossings, especially in the north, but these calls have not yet yielded positive results. The limited number of trucks entering the war-torn strip, with just 85 per day last week, underlines the urgent need for better access to ease aid distribution.
“They would help immediately,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Thursday when asked by CNN about airdrop options.

“But the real solution to this is to try to get – or get, I should say – an agreement that would dramatically increase the flow of aid and help with the distribution problems and help with the problem that citizens face in trying to get safely being able to move to be able to get help if it actually comes in,” Miller said during a department briefing.

Earlier this week, countries including Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and France conducted aid airdrops in various parts of the Gaza Strip, underscoring the urgency of the situation.
Senior U.S. officials have consistently urged their Israeli counterparts in direct meetings about the urgent need to open additional border crossings, emphasizing the life-and-death nature of the matter.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, said: “This is a matter of life and death.”
In addition, discussions are underway with Israel and other stakeholders on the possibility of establishing a maritime corridor for humanitarian assistance to Gaza, although logistical challenges must be addressed before the corridor can become operational, a US official told CNN .