WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced on Friday the United States would airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza as his administration faces withering pressure over its support for Israel’s war.
Sitting alongside Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office, Biden said the airdrops will start in the “coming days.”
The announcement came a day after more than a hundred Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd that overwhelmed a convoy of humanitarian aid trucks in Rafah.
The US military is expected to lead the mission from bases in the region, Al-Monitor has learned.
The US aid drop is not expected to be a sustainable contribution to fill the needs of Gaza’s population, of which roughly a quarter, 576,000 people, are on the brink of famine, UN officials said this week.
US lawmakers have pressed the Biden administration to provide a hospital ship for Gaza. But that prospect entails significant security risks, as personnel would have to go ashore in an active war zone, a US official briefed on the deliberations told Al-Monitor.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
