U.S. begins air-dropping aid into Gaza

The United States began air-dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza on Saturday, according to U.S. officials.

This comes one day after President Joe Biden said the U.S. would pull out “every stop” to help get aid into the area. There were a total of 66 bundles dropped, according to CNN, including 22 from each of three U.S. C-130 aircraft involved in the operation. The bundles were meals intended for the population of Gaza, but no water or medical supplies.

One of the officials said that this amounted to more than 35,000 meals, and that it will continue as a sustained effort, according to Reuters. Also, France, Egypt and Jordan have already been dropping aid into Gaza.   

Biden said the aid was not coming into Gaza quickly enough. “We’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need, no excuses,” Biden said according to CNN. “Innocent lives are on the line, and children’s lives are on the line.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) issued a memo last week that Israel is currently “facilitating the entry of more than 1,000 trucks of aid to Gaza per week, and that on February 19, Israel inspected and transferred 133 humanitarian assistance trucks” with 1,830 tons of aid.

They added that since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 of last year, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240 others, Israel has delivered 250,510 tons of aid on 13,623 trucks.

Israel says that the United Nations has not been able to distribute the aid at the pace that Israel has delivered it, and that they are largely responsible for the delays.