U.S. makes first aerial aid drop to Gaza amid ongoing cease-fire talks

U.S. makes first aerial aid drop to Gaza amid ongoing cease-fire talks

The United States has made the first of what officials say will be more planned airdrops of food aid into the Gaza Strip, parachuting in packages that contained more than 38,000 meals on Saturday. The operation expands America’s direct role in addressing a growing humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave — where a lack of food supplies and acute hunger have forced some people to resort to eating weeds and animal feed — though aid groups have warned that these measures are insufficient for the enormous need.

The operation by U.S. C-130 cargo planes and the Royal Jordanian Air Force dropped bundles of ready-to-eat halal meals along the Gaza coastline to allow for civilian access, U.S. Central Command said. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France have also carried out aerial aid deliveries in recent days.

Dropping aid from planes is expensive and inefficient. Why do it?

U.S. officials added that new ways of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza were under consideration, including by sea. Trucks carrying desperately needed food and essential items into Gaza have plunged in recent weeks following Israeli airstrikes that have targeted police officers who guard the convoys. Aid groups such as the World Food Program have also suspended deliveries to the north, where the need is greatest, citing lack of security.

At least 118 people were killed and 760 injured, the Gaza Health Ministry said, when a crowd converged at an aid convoy last week. Palestinian officials, eyewitnesses and doctors said Israeli troops fired on the crowd, leading to the carnage, while the Israel Defense Forces blamed the deaths on a stampede and said its forces only fired warning shots that were not directed at the convoy.

Meanwhile, a cease-fire proposal that Israel “has more or less accepted” is awaiting a response from Hamas, The Washington Post reported. The proposal calls for increased aid deliveries on the ground and a six-week pause in fighting, during which sick, wounded, female and elderly hostages still inside Gaza would be released. U.S. officials hope a cease-fire can begin before the holy month of Ramadan, which is set to start around March 10.

Here’s what else to know

Vice President Harris will meet Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz at the White House on Monday. The meeting is part of broader efforts by the Biden administration to speak with a range of Israeli officials and plan for the “day after” the war, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an encounter that has not been publicly announced.

Eleven people, including a medical worker, were killed and about 50 people injured in an Israeli strike on Saturday in an area that held tents for displaced people near Rafah’s Emirati maternity hospital, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a post on social media. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike to the The Post, saying it had targeted “terrorists and terror infrastructure.”

Italy’s Defense Ministry on Saturday said its naval ship Duilio shot down an approaching drone in the Red Sea. The drone was less than four miles away and had characteristics similar to those used in previous attacks, the statement said. “The Houthi terrorist attacks are a serious violation of international law and an attack on the safety of maritime traffic,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.

At least 30,320 people have been killed and 71,533 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and says 245 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.

Missy Ryan, Karen DeYoung, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.