U.S. military C-130 cargo planes dropped food in pallets over Gaza on Saturday in the opening stage of an emergency humanitarian assistance authorized by President Joe Biden after more than 100 Palestinians who had surged to pull goods off an aid convoy were killed during a chaotic encounter with Israeli troops.
Three planes from Air Forces Central dropped 66 bundles containing about 38,000 meals into Gaza at 3:30 p.m. local time. The bundles were dropped in southwest Gaza, on the beach along the territory’s Mediterranean coast.
The airdrop was co-ordinated with the Royal Jordanian Air Force, which said it completed two food airdrops Saturday in northern Gaza and has conducted several rounds in recent months.
“The combined operation included U.S. Air Force and RJAF C-130 aircraft and respective Army Soldiers specialized in aerial delivery of supplies, built bundles and ensured the safe drop of food aid,” U.S. Central Command said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The U.S. airdrop is expected to be the first of many.
Video obtained by Reuters shows humanitarian aid airdropped by the U.S. military landing in Gaza City.
Three Biden administration officials said the planes dropped the military Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) — shelf-stable meals that contain a day’s worth of calories in each sealed package — in locations that would provide civilians with the greatest level of safety to access aid.
Afterward, the U.S. monitored the sites and was able to see civilians approach and distribute food among themselves, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details that had not been made public.
Dozens killed during aid delivery
Biden on Friday announced the U.S. would begin airdropping food to starving Gazans after at least 115 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more wounded in the Thursday attack as they scrambled for aid, the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said.
Hundreds of people had rushed about 30 trucks bringing a predawn delivery of aid to the north. Palestinians said nearby Israeli troops shot into the crowds.
Israel said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic crush for the food aid and its troops fired warning shots after the crowd moved toward them in a threatening way.
Pressure is mounting on Israel over the deaths of Palestinians lining up for aid in an incident during which its soldiers fired at the crowd. Several countries are backing a UN call for an inquiry.
In urging an international investigation, the European Union’s diplomatic service said in a statement on Saturday that many of the Palestinians killed or wounded as they tried to get bags of flour from the convoy were hit by Israeli army fire.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Friday that the airdrops were being planned to deliver emergency humanitarian assistance in a safe way to people on the ground.
The United States believes the airdrops will help address the dire 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.
‘Not a replacement’ for ground aid
Kirby said the airdrops have an advantage over trucks because 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.”
The C-130 cargo plane is widely used by the military to deliver aid to remote places due to its ability to land in austere environments and cargo capacity.
A C-130 can airlift as much as 19,000 kilograms of cargo and its crews know how to rig the cargo, which sometimes can include vehicles, onto massive pallets that can be safely dropped out of the back of the aircraft.
At least 17,000 children are now orphaned or separated from their parents in Gaza, UNICEF says, and encounter daily, repeated trauma from which they are unable to flee.
U.S. air force loadmasters secure the bundles onto pallets with netting that is rigged for release in the back of a C-130, and then crews release it with a parachute when the aircraft reaches the intended delivery zone.
The Air Force’s C-130 has been used in years past to air drop humanitarian into Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and other locations and the airframe is used in an annual multi-national “Operation Christmas Drop” that airdrops pallets of toys, supplies, nonperishable food and fishing supplies to remote locations in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau.
Since the war began, Israel has largely barred entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies, except for some aid entering the south from Egypt at the Rafah crossing and Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing.
Arif Husain, chief economist for the World Food Program, told Rosemary Barton Live that ‘pretty much everybody’ living in Gaza is suffering from hunger, and about a quarter of the population is ‘literally starving.’
Additionally, right-wing Israeli protesters have for weeks held demonstrations to block trucks, saying Gaza’s people should not be given aid. UN agencies have also complained that cumbersome Israeli procedures for searching trucks have slowed crossings.
The UN says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people face starvation after nearly five months of fighting that began with a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Aid officials have said airdrops are not an efficient means of distributing aid and are a measure of last resort.
Late Wednesday, Canadian International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen confirmed Canada is working to airdrop humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, joining countries including France, which has already done the same.
Olivia Batten, a spokesperson for Hussen, specified no airlifts would happen using Canadian military aircraft.
Hussen said on Wednesday that Ottawa was exploring new options to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory as the war that began Oct. 7 continues.
“Airdrops of aid into Gaza, in partnership with like-minded countries like Jordan,” were on the table, he said.
