US makes its first Gaza aid airdrop

The United States military carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza yesterday, US officials said, and aid agencies warned of a growing humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian enclave as Israel pressed on with its offensive.

Three C-130 planes delivered more than 35,000 meals into a territory where the United Nations says one quarter of the population is one step from famine, and Palestinians posted videos on social media showing boxes of aid being dropped.

The White House has said the airdrops will be a sustained effort, and that Israel is supportive of the operation.

US President Joe Biden has said he hopes a ceasefire will be in place by the time of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts on March 10. Speaking to reporters on Friday, he said: "We're not there yet."

Plans for the US airdrop were announced by Biden on Friday, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid drew renewed attention to the humanitarian catastrophe.

Biden said the US airdrop would take place in the coming days but offered no further specifics. Other countries, including Jordan and France, have already carried out airdrops of aid into Gaza.

"We need to do more and the United States will do more," Biden told reporters, adding that "aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough."

At the White House, spokesperson John Kirby stressed that airdrops would become "a sustained effort." He added that the first airdrop would be likely be military MREs, or "meals ready-to-eat."

"This isn't going to be one and done," Kirby said.

Biden told reporters that the US was also looking at the possibility of a maritime corridor to deliver large amounts of aid into Gaza.

At least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the enclave's population - are one step away from famine, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

With people eating animal feed and even cactuses to survive, and with medics saying children are dying in hospitals from malnutrition and dehydration, the UN has said it faces "overwhelming obstacles" getting in aid.

While it is unclear which type of aircraft will be used, the C-17 and C-130 are best suited for the job.

David Deptula, a retired US Air Force three-star general who once commanded the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, said airdrops are something the US military can effectively execute.

"It is something that's right up their mission alley," Deptula told Reuters.

"There are a lot of detailed challenges. But there's nothing insurmountable."

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the airdrops would have only a limited impact on the suffering of those in Gaza.

"It doesn't deal with the root cause," the official said, adding that ultimately only opening up land borders could deal with the issue in a serious manner.

Another issue, the official added, was that the US could not ensure that the aid simply didn't end up in Hamas' hands, given that the United States did not have troops on the ground.

"Humanitarian workers always complain that airdrops are good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid," Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group's UN Director, said. Gowan said that the only way to get enough aid was through aid convoys which would follow a truce.

"It is arguable that the situation in Gaza is now so bad that any additional supplies will at least alleviate some suffering. But this at best a temporary band aid measure," Gowan added.

Under pressure at home and abroad, another US official said the Biden administration was looking at shipping aid by sea from Cyprus, some 210 nautical miles off Gaza's Mediterranean coast.

At the White House, Kirby acknowledged that the airdrops into Gaza were "extremely difficult" because of the dense population and ongoing conflict.

The US for months has been calling for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, something Israel has resisted.

Kirby noted that Israel had tried to airdrop supplies into Gaza and it was supportive of the US airdropping aid.