U.S. to air drop food, supplies in Gaza

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States would start to deliver relief supplies from the air into Gaza, a day after the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians at an aid convoy.

“In the coming days we’re going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing air drops of additional food and supplies,” the 81-year-old Biden said in the Oval Office at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“We need to do more, and the United States will do more,” Biden told reporters.

The US president added that he would “insist” that Israel let in more aid trucks, while it would also look at a possible “marine corridor” to deliver large amounts of aid into Gaza.

Biden had been planning air drops for some time but Thursday’s incident “certainly underscored for the president” the need to find other ways to get aid in, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.

The US planned to carry out multiple air drops that would last weeks, said Kirby, adding that it would not be “one and done.”

But it was also a “tough military operation” that required careful planning by the Pentagon for the safety of both Gazan civilians and US military personnel.

“It is extremely difficult to do an airdrop in such a crowded environment as is Gaza,” Kirby said.

The US also had to manage the risks to its own personnel.

“This is a war zone. So there’s an added element of potential danger to the pilots in the aircraft,” he added.

Kirby said Israel was meanwhile “seriously” investigating the aid convoy deaths.

The announcement comes as negotiations continue for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, amid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza which has been under siege since Hamas terrorists’ 7 October attacks on Israel.

Biden said later he was “hoping” for a deal on a sixweek ceasefire by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which will start on 10 or 11 March, depending on the lunar calendar.

Ceasefire talks have been complicated by Thursday’s incident in which dozens of desperate Palestinians were killed rushing an aid convoy in northern Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of famine.

An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat.”

The planned air drops must be safe to both Palestinians and American troops, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.