Washington: US President Joe Biden said that US plans to carry out a first military airdrop of food and supplies into Gaza.
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 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.
The airdrops could begin as early as this weekend, officials said.
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.
Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces had killed more than 100 people trying to reach a relief convoy near Gaza City early on Thursday. Palestinians face an increasingly desperate situation nearly five months into the war.
