President Biden says US is working to airdrop humanitarian aid to Gaza

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said Friday the U.S. would air drop humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip to help alleviate hunger and starving triggered by the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said “innocent people” have died in Gaza. He said the aid drops would start “in the coming days.”

This humanitarian aid will be delivered by a U.S. military aircraft, according to a U.S official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

“Innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families, and you saw the response when they tried to get aid,” Biden said. “But we need to do more, and the United States will do more.”

Palestinians burn tires in protest against the rising prices of food and supplies due to shortages, on February 28, 2024, in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

Biden said the U.S. would join Jordan and other countries to provide airdrops of supplies into Gaza and would and seek to open up other avenues into the region, including the possibility of a marine corridor delivering large amounts of humanitarian assistance.

“Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now − it’s nowhere nearly enough,” he said. “Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line.

Humanitarian officials have warned that hunger and disease rare spreading fast in Gaza, particularly in the northern part of the strip, as the result of five months of attacks in the war.

Top U.N. officials said earlier this week that at least one quarter of Gaza’s population – 576,000 people – is one step away from famine and that virtually the entire population desperately needs food. Some aid trucks have been shot at, looted and overwhelmed by hungry people.

In addition, 1 in 6 children under the age of two in northern Gaza are suffering from “acute malnutrition and wasting,” where the body becomes emaciated, officials said.

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @mcollinsNEWS.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden says US will airdrop humanitarian aid to Gaza