©Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during his visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., February 29, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans on Friday to carry out a first military drop of food and supplies into Gaza, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid highlighted a catastrophe ongoing humanitarian effort in the crowded coastal enclave. .
Biden said the U.S. airdrop would take place in the next few days but offered no further details. Other countries, including Jordan and France, have already carried out aid drops on Gaza.
“We need to do more and the United States will do more,” Biden told reporters, adding that “the aid coming into Gaza is absolutely not enough.”
At the White House, spokesman John Kirby (NYSE:) stressed that airdrops will become “a sustained effort.” He added that the first airdrop would likely be military MREs, or “meals ready to eat.”
“This won’t be the end of it,” Kirby said.
Biden told reporters that the United States is also looking into the possibility of a sea corridor to deliver large amounts of aid to Gaza.
Launches could begin as early as this weekend, officials said.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip – a quarter of the enclave’s population – are on the verge of famine.
Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces killed more than 100 people as they tried to reach an aid convoy near Gaza City early Thursday morning. Palestinians face an increasingly desperate situation nearly five months into the war, which began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
Israel blamed most of the deaths on crowds swarming around aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. An Israeli official also said that troops “in a limited response” subsequently fired on crowds they believed posed a threat.
With people eating animal feed and even cacti to survive, and with doctors saying children are dying in hospitals from malnutrition and dehydration, the UN has said it faces “enormous obstacles” in getting aid.
While it is unclear what type of aircraft will be used, the C-17 and C-130 are best suited for this task.
David Deptula, a retired three-star U.S. Air Force general who once commanded the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, said airdrops are something the U.S. military can actually perform.
“It’s something that’s right up their alley,” Deptula told Reuters.
“There are many detailed challenges. But there is nothing insurmountable.”
The United States and others also expect aid to be bolstered by a temporary ceasefire, which Biden said Friday he hopes will happen by the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins March 10.
ISRAEL ‘AWARE’ OF THE LAUNCHES
However, there have been doubts about the effectiveness of the air aid dropped on Gaza.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the airdrops would have only a limited impact on the suffering of Gazans.
“You don’t address the root cause,” the official said, adding that ultimately only opening land borders could seriously address the problem.
Another problem, the official added, was that the United States could not guarantee that the aid simply did not end up in the hands of Hamas, given that the United States had no troops on the ground.
“Aid workers always complain that airdrops are a good photo opportunity but a bad way to deliver aid,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director of the International Crisis Group. Gowan said the only way to get enough aid was through aid convoys that would follow a truce.
“It is arguable that the situation in Gaza is now so bad that any additional supplies will alleviate at least some suffering. But this is, at best, a temporary relief measure,” Gowan added.
Under pressure at home and abroad, another U.S. official said the Biden administration is considering shipping aid by sea from Cyprus, about 210 nautical miles off Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.
At the White House, Kirby acknowledged that airdrops over Gaza have been “extremely difficult” due to population density and the ongoing conflict.
The United States has been asking Israel for months to give more aid to Gaza, which Israel has resisted.
Kirby noted that Israel attempted to drop supplies into Gaza and supported U.S. aid drops.
“We are aware of the humanitarian launch,” an Israeli official said in Washington.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not respond to a question about whether the United States had sought an agreement with Israel on the airdrops in advance or was coordinating the effort with it.
Biden’s announcement of new aid to Gaza was marred by gaffes as he twice confused it with Ukraine.
The UN delivered aid to besieged northern Gaza on Friday for the first time in more than a week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. The UN delivered medicines, vaccines and fuel to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
The World Food Program said 10 days ago that it would suspend food aid deliveries to northern Gaza until conditions in the Palestinian enclave allow for safe distribution.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Friday that during February an average of nearly 97 trucks managed to enter Gaza each day, compared to around 150 trucks per day in January, adding: ” The number of trucks entering Gaza remains well below the target of 500 per day.”