US sends aid to Gaza as Rafah bombed
Biden admits America ‘needs to do more’...as UN confirms people killed at food convoy were shot
THE US delivered its first aid airdrop into war-torn Gaza yesterday in a bid to alleviate the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Aeroplanes dropped 38,000 meals over the coastline of the stricken enclave to allow civilians access to “critical aid”.
It comes just days after more than 100 Palestinians trying to get aid from a convoy were killed during an encounter with Israeli troops.
The airdrop is expected to be the first of many with president Joe Biden saying: “We need to do more, and the United States will do more.”
A quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million population face starvation, according to the United Nations.
At least 115 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded in the scramble for aid on Thursday, the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said.
Palestinians said Israeli troops shot into the crowd. But Israel said they fired warning shots towards the crowd, insisting many of the dead were trampled.
A doctor at Al-awda Hospital in Gaza has said of 176 injured people brought to the facility, 142 had gunshot wounds. The UN said many people with injuries being treated at Gaza City’s al-shifa Hospital suffered bullet wounds. The head of the Gaza sub-office of the UN Co-ordinator for Humanitarian Affairs said he and a team sent to the hospital found a large number with bullet wounds. The Palestinian death toll has topped 30,000 since October 7’s Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200. Israel last night launched an airstrike on Palestinians sheltering in tents – killing at least 11 people and injuring around 50, including kids. The targeted drone attack took place next to the entrance of the Al-helal Al-emirati Maternity Hospital in Tal as-sultan, Rafah City, just hours after 17 people were reportedly killed in other attacks elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.
A witness, who declined to be identified, told Reuters: “The strike hit one tent, where people took shelter, directly, shrapnel came inside the hospital where me and friends were sitting, we survived by a miracle.”
The IDF last night confirmed it was responsible for the attack, describing it as a “precision strike” against “Islamic Jihad terrorists” and “terrorist infrastructure”.
They claimed no damage was caused to the hospital.
Meanwhile, thousands took part in a Stand Together solidarity rally in Dublin city centre yesterday.
Trade unions, pro-palestine and anti-racist groups, and refugee organisations marched with placards and flags.