Biden says U.S. military to airdrop food, supplies into Gaza

U.S. President Joe Biden said the airdrop of food and supplies into Gaza would take place in the coming days but offered no further specifics.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday plans for a military airdrop of food and supplies into Gaza, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid threw a spotlight on an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave.

Biden said the 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.

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 U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Israel blamed most of the deaths on crowds that swarmed around aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. An Israeli official also said troops had “in a limited response” later fired on crowds they felt had posed a threat.

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