US drops aid into Gaza where UN says 550,000 close to famine

The US has carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but some Palestinians are saying it is not nearly enough.

The development came as a senior US administration official said Israel had endorsed a framework for a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal.

About 38,000 meals were dropped from three planes into the territory, where the UN says about 550,000 people are close to famine.

The US said the drops along Gaza’s coastline were the beginning of a sustained campaign to get food into Gaza.

The militaries of Jordan and Egypt also said they conducted airdrops.

The airdrops followed the deaths of more than 100 people four days ago. They were shot by Israeli soldiers and crushed while trying to get food from an aid convoy.

Aid groups and Gaza residents say the Israeli military needs to create proper systems for delivering aid, with a greater focus on bringing it in by land.

“We have land crossings. It’s better to send aid via crossings and better than airdropping via parachutes,” one resident said.

“The parachutes aid is not enough for one family. This is nothing.

Egypt should open its crossing and let the trucks get in normally.”

Renewed hope for ceasefire

International mediators have been working for weeks to broker a deal to pause the fighting before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on about March 10.

A senior US administration official said Israel had essentially endorsed a framework for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, and it was now up to Hamas to agree to it.

A deal likely would allow aid to reach hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza who aid officials worry are under threat of famine.

The US official said the Israelis had “more or less accepted” the proposal, which includes a six-week ceasefire as well as the release by Hamas of hostages considered vulnerable, which includes the sick, the wounded, the elderly and women.

Talks to reach an agreement are set to resume in Egypt on Sunday local time.

“Right now, the ball is in the court of Hamas and we are continuing to push this as hard as we possibly can,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House to brief reporters.

Officials from Israel and from Hamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel has faced increasing criticism over the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people struggling to survive in northern Gaza, which has borne the brunt of the conflict that began when the Hamas militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing about 250 hostages.

EU urges probe of aid convoy shootings

The European Union’s diplomatic service said many of the dozens of Palestinians killed or wounded in the chaos surrounding the aid convoy on Thursday were hit by Israeli army fire and urged an international investigation.

It said responsibility for the crisis lay with “restrictions imposed by the Israeli army and obstructions by violent extremist[s] to the supply of humanitarian aid.”

Israel’s chief military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Israel organised Thursday’s humanitarian convoy, “and claims that we attacked the convoy intentionally and that we harmed people intentionally are baseless”.

Ahmed Abdel Karim, being treated for gunshot wounds in his feet, said he had spent two days waiting for aid trucks to arrive.

“Everyone attacked and advanced on these trucks. Because of the large number, I could not get flour,” he said. He was shot by Israeli troops, he said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll from the war had climbed to 30,320. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures, but says women and children make up about two-thirds of those killed.

ABC/wires

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