President Biden said Friday that the United States would begin airdropping humanitarian aid to Gaza, a decision that was prompted by the dozens of Palestinians killed when Israeli forces opened fire near an aid convoy in Gaza a day earlier -City opened.
“Innocent people were caught in a terrible war and couldn’t feed their families, and you saw the reaction when they tried to get help,” Mr. Biden said before a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “And we must do more, and the United States will do more.”
Mr Biden said the United States would work with Jordan, which is leading the airdrop effort into Gaza, as well as other allies to deliver aid by air, and that deliveries could potentially also come by sea.
“The aid going to Gaza is far from enough right now,” Mr. Biden said. “Innocent lives are at stake, and children’s lives are at stake.”
Mr. Biden and Ms. Meloni discussed efforts to prevent the war in Gaza from becoming a larger conflict, as well as support for Ukraine and steps to combat human trafficking and global migration.
John F. Kirby, a senior National Security Council official, said the initial airdrops would focus on food, followed by water and medicine. A US military official said the Air Force plans to cut 50,000 food rations.
The Biden administration has been considering airdrops for some time but has so far decided against it, in part because of the logistical challenges of dropping supplies into a densely populated war zone. But Mr Kirby said Thursday’s chaos underscored the need to “find more creative ways to deliver aid more quickly and at greater scale”.
The deaths surrounding the convoy have brought the humanitarian crisis in Gaza into sharper focus for government officials, they say. Officials said they did not know exactly what happened in the convoy but believed Thursday’s catastrophic events demonstrated the lack of security in Gaza and highlighted the failure of Israel’s war and the increasingly desperate situation of Palestinians there.
The deaths could prove to be a turning point, prompting the White House to put greater pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid.
Mr. Kirby said the deaths showed that Hamas and Israel must agree to a ceasefire and release hostages held in Gaza. A pause in Israeli military operations would allow more humanitarian aid to reach the area more quickly, he said.
Many questions remain about the killings surrounding Thursday’s aid convoy, about which the Israeli military and Gaza officials gave different accounts.
Health officials in the Gaza Strip said more than 100 Palestinians were killed and more than 700 injured on Thursday when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds gathered near an aid convoy in Gaza City. Witnesses said they saw people being shot as they ran toward the relief trucks.
The Israeli military said a large crowd stormed the convoy and Israeli forces fired on a mob that was “moving in a manner that put them in danger.” The Israeli military said most of the deaths were caused by trampling and that people were also run over by the aid trucks.
Mr. Kirby said the Biden administration was confident that Israel was conducting a fair investigation into the violence.
“The signs are that they are taking this seriously,” Kirby said, adding that the United States wants answers as quickly as possible. “Let’s see what they come up with and what they learn.”
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2024-03-02 02:45:23
www.nytimes.com
