US airdrops food aid into Gaza, ceasefire talks to resume in Cairo

WASHINGTON - The United States military on March 2 carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queueing for aid threw the spotlight on an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the airdrop was carried out using three C-130 planes. One of the officials said more than 38,000 meals were airdropped.

US President Joe Biden announced on March 1 plans for a military airdrop of food and supplies into Gaza.

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,” Mr Biden told reporters, adding that “aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough”.

At the White House, spokesman John Kirby stressed that airdrops would become “a sustained effort”. He earlier said the first airdrop would be military MREs, or Meals, Ready to Eat.

“This isn’t going to be one and done,” Mr Kirby said.

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

He earlier said he hoped a ceasefire would be in place by the time of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts on March 10.

Gaza truce talks between Israeli and Hamas delegations are due to resume in Cairo on March 3, two Egyptian security sources said on March 2.

The Egyptian sources said the parties had agreed on the duration of a Gaza truce, as well as hostage and prisoner releases, adding that the completion of the deal still requires an agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from northern Gaza and a return of its residents.

But Israel’s Ynet news, citing an unnamed senior official, reported that Israel would not be sending a delegation to the Cairo talks until it received a full list of hostages held in Gaza who were alive.

According to the report, the central issue being worked on was how many hostages would be released from Gaza, and in turn how many Palestinians would be freed by Israel in exchange for each of them.

“Until clear answers are given, a delegation would not be leaving to Cairo,” Ynet cited the official saying.

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 United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces had

killed more than 100 people

trying to reach a relief convoy near Gaza City early on Feb 29, as Palestinians face an increasingly desperate situation nearly five months into the war that began with

a Hamas attack on Israel

on Oct 7.

Egyptian sources said the Feb 29 incident had not slowed down the talks, but instead pushed negotiators to hasten to preserve progress.

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.

Israel killed at least 92 people and wounded 156 others over the past 24 hours in its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Health Ministry said on March 2, with more than 30,000 Palestinians killed since Oct 7.

At least 11 Palestinians, including a medic working at a hospital, were killed by an Israeli air strike on March 2 that hit a tent in Rafah, the ministry added.

The air strike took place over an area where displaced Palestinians have been taking shelter, outside the Emirates Hospital in the suburb of Tel al-Sultan in southern Gaza’s Rafah.

With people eating animal feed and even cacti 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.

Mr 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 is right up their mission alley,” Mr Deptula told Reuters.

“There are a lot of detailed challenges. But there is nothing insurmountable.”

Israel ‘aware’ of airdrop

Still, there have been questions about the effectiveness of airdropping aid into Gaza.

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 did not simply end up in Hamas’ hands, given that the US does not have troops on the ground.

“Humanitarian workers always complain that airdrops are good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid,” Mr Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group’s UN director, said.

Mr Gowan said the only way to get enough aid was through aid convoys that 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 is at best a temporary Band-Aid measure,” Mr 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, Mr 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.

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

“We are aware of the humanitarian airdrop,” said an Israeli official in Washington.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not reply to a question on whether the US had sought Israeli agreement in advance on the airdrops or was coordinating the effort with it.

Mr Biden’s announcement of the fresh aid to Gaza was marred by gaffes, as he twice confused it for Ukraine.

The UN delivered aid to besieged northern Gaza for the first time in over a week on March 1, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The UN delivered medicine, vaccines and fuel to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The World Food Programme said on Feb 20 that it was pausing deliveries of food aid to northern Gaza until conditions in the Palestinian enclave allow for safe distribution.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said on March 1 that, during February, an average of nearly 97 trucks were able to enter Gaza each day, compared with about 150 trucks a day in January, adding: “The number of trucks entering Gaza remains well below the target of 500 per day.” REUTERS