Joe Biden announced this Friday that the United States will drop humanitarian aid in Gaza by air to alleviate famine as the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas progresses.
U.S. officials described this as a desperate measure. The White House has recently been concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the difficulty in bringing aid by land.
In fact, Biden announced that they will be air-dropping humanitarian aid to Gaza because the people there cannot feed themselves.
“Innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families and you saw the response when they tried to get aid in,” Biden said. "And we need to do more and the United States will do more."
“Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now,” Biden continued. “Innocent lives are on the line and children's lives are on the line.”
In addition to expressing his concerns, Biden announced that the deliveries will be carried out with the support of Jordan, an unprecedented alliance that came about after a Jordanian military mission where King Abdullah II delivered humanitarian aid from a plane.
This action was part of a military operation in which tons of aid was air-dropped to Gaza.
Although there is no information on how and when the drops will be made, The Wall Street Journal announced that the aid will be launched in the coming days with military aircraft.
The newspaper described several problems with the operation, the first being that the amount of humanitarian aid that can be dropped on a military plane is only equivalent to all the supplies that fit into 1-4 trucks. Meanwhile, Gaza could technically accommodate upwards of 250 or more trucks per day.
The measure, in any case, will not solve the humanitarian problem, although U.S. officials believe it is worse to sit by idly.
Likewise, the White House's decision comes just after the controversial episode where hundreds of Palestinian civilians died while a convoy of aid trucks in the Gaza Strip was looted by desperate citizens.
According to United Nations officials, a quarter of Gaza's population, approximately 576,000 people, are on the brink of famine.
The growing desperation for food comes after the amount of aid sent to Gaza by land was reduced by half in February compared to January, according to the U.N.
The situation worsened after Hamas civilian police, who were responsible for escorting humanitarian trucks, left the area amid clashes with Israeli forces.
