US carries out second airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza with over 36,000 meals delivered

The United States military airdropped more than 36,000 meals over northern Gaza on Tuesday amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.

The humanitarian airdrop, which was coordinated with France, Egypt and Jordan, is the second Washington initiative in Gaza since Saturday, when a similar number of meals were handed out to Gazans.

Video of the airdrop of Humanitarian Assistance into Gaza on March 5th. pic.twitter.com/60FsZn2Wfn

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 5, 2024

“US Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Northern Gaza on March 5, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict,” the U.S. military confirmed.

United States Central Command and Royal Jordanian Armed Forces Conduct Additional Airdrops of Humanitarian Aid Into Gaza

Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Northern Gaza on March 5, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. (Gaza… pic.twitter.com/ec2m80rUHl

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 5, 2024

The international humanitarian airdrop initiatives come after reports that 100 Gazans were killed in a stampede when chaos erupted around humanitarian aid trucks in northern Gaza.

While Hamas claimed that Israel committed a “massacre,” the Israeli military has already assessed that the vast majority were killed in the tragic accident.

“During the gathering, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of being crushed and trampled,” the IDF said in an official statement.

Because the ongoing war currently affects most parts of Gaza, humanitarian airdrops appear to be a more reliable means of delivering aid to the civilian population.

“Our goal is clear,” said U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller. “[We want] to establish a comprehensive aid strategy that includes air, land and sea routes, to maximize the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and ensure that aid is distributed to everyone in Gaza who needs it.”

In addition to airdrops, Israel has also greenlighted international aid to Gaza from the sea in the coming days, Israel's Channel 13 news reported.

Israeli officials will inspect the Emirati-financed aid shipment based in Cyprus before it sails toward the Gaza Strip. The security inspections are necessary in order to prevent the smuggling of weapons and other essential items for Hamas’ ongoing war against Israel.

White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby, confirmed that Washington is examining the possibility of increasing the humanitarian aid to Gaza from the sea.

“We’re exploring other channels to get aid into Gaza, including a maritime route. To that end, we’re looking at both military and commercial options to move assistance by sea,” he said.

“There’s still an awful lot of work that’s being done on this to flesh it out. We’re also going to continue to urge Israel to facilitate more trucks and more routes, opening up more crossings, so that more aid can get in to people in need and [for the] flow to be increased.”

Israel had, by the end of February, facilitated the delivery of some 14,000 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza, a densely populated area with a population of over two million.

According to international law, Israel is only required to facilitate the passage of supplies, provided the military enemy will not benefit from the aid. However, over the last few months, there is much evidence pointing to Hamas operatives hijacking the aid trucks.

As far back as December, Israeli President Isaac Herzog pointed out: “Today it is possible to provide three times the amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza if the UN – instead of complaining all day – would do its job.”