US President Joe Biden on Friday said that the US will start airdropping much needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war for Palestinians who are facing the double blow of war and a threat of a famine, according to the Associated Press.
Here’s what you need to know:
WHEN WILL THE AIRDROPS START?
The US and Israel’s neighbour Jordan will coordinate the alerts. Jordan earlier made several rounds of airdrops into Gaza in recent months. The US and Jordan’s joint aid operation in the Palestinian war-struck coastal enclave will begin in the “coming days”.
WHY NOW?
The decision by the Biden administration came after at least 115 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 others were injured on Thursday after Israeli soldiers allegedly open-fired on Palestinians trying to access aid in northern Gaza. Israel claims that the Palestinians seeking food and aid moved in such a way that endangered their security after which they opened fire at the Palestinians aid seekers.
Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as huge crowds raced to pull goods off an aid convoy, while Israel has said it fired only when its troops felt threatened and that most of the civilian casualties were from trampling.
What is being delivered
The first deliveries are expected to be pallets of food -– military rations known as MREs — with other assistance potentially to follow. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby didn’t offer a more exact timetable for the airdrops but indicated that there will be several aid drops.
The US has been pushing Israel to speed the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and to open a third crossing into the territory, but Friday’s violence showed the challenges no matter the circumstances.
“The loss of life is heartbreaking,” Biden said Friday as he announced his decision to order airdrops. “People are so desperate.”
HOW WILL THE US ENSURE AID GETS TO WHERE IT’S NEEDED?
Asked how the US would keep the supplies from falling into Hamas’ hands, Kirby told reporters that the US would learn over the course of the aerial operation.
“There’s few military operations that are more complicated than humanitarian assistance airdrops,” he said. Kirby said Pentagon planners will identify drop locations aiming to balance getting the aid closest to where it’s needed without putting those on the ground in harm’s way from the drops themselves.
“The biggest risk is making sure nobody gets hurt on the ground,” Kirby said. He said the US is also working through how the airdropped aid will be collected and distributed once it’s on the ground.
WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
The Biden administration thinks the airdrops will help address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, but they are no replacement for trucks, which can transport far more aid more effectively — though Thursday’s events also showed the risks with ground transport.
Kirby said the airdrops have an advantage over trucks in that planes can move aid to a particular location very quickly. But in terms of volume, the airdrops will be “a supplement to, not a replacement for moving things in by ground.”
Maritime Corridor
The US and allies have tried to broker a new temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that would see the release of more hostages held by the militant group in Gaza, the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and an up-to-six-week pause in the fighting. If a ceasefire were secured, the US hopes it would allow large quantities of aid to flow into Gaza over a sustained period of time. Biden on Friday also said the US was working with allies on establishing a “maritime corridor” to provide assistance to Gazans from the sea.
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