US forces in the Middle East carried out a second humanitarian airstrike on Gaza on Tuesday with the help of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, the US Central Command said in a statement.
According to CENTCOM, the aid ended around 2:30 PM Gaza time and included approximately 36,000 meals. The operation was carried out by members of the US Army and Air Force.
The statement said the Defense Ministry will continue to cut aid to the areas of the territory most affected by Israel’s continued attacks in the wake of Hamas’ brutal attack on the Jewish state on October 7.
As aid was delivered, ceasefire talks between Hamas and mediators in Cairo broke down without any agreement, with only days left to stop the fighting before Ramadan begins.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris will sit down in Washington DC with Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s War Cabinet, whose visit is in conflict with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The vice president this weekend called for “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and called on Hamas to accept the deal currently on the table. They were the most strident comments yet from a member of the Biden administration.
This reaching photo, released by the Jordanian military on March 5, 2024, shows humanitarian aid being dropped from a military plane over the Gaza Strip
According to CENTCOM, the aid ended around 2:30 PM Gaza time and included approximately 36,000 meals
Vice President Kamala Harris (left) will meet with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz (right) at the White House, defying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
US Army soldiers showed how they moved the aid packages on Tuesday morning
The statement said the Defense Ministry will continue to cut aid to the areas of the territory most affected by Israel’s continued attacks.
But it also raised questions about whether Harris and Biden disagree on the war between Israel and Hamas. The former senator from California has insisted that she and the president are “aligned and consistent” on Israel.
Last Thursday, more than 100 people were killed when crowds rushed to an aid convoy on the outskirts of Gaza City. Hamas has accused the Israeli army of opening fire; the incident is still under investigation.
On Saturday, the US began the first of what it said would be a series of humanitarian airdrops of food in Gaza, as aid agencies warned of a growing humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian enclave in the absence of a ceasefire.
Three U.S. military C-130 planes delivered more than 38,000 meals in an area where the United Nations says at least 576,000 people are one step away from famine.
Palestinians posted videos on social media showing boxes of aid being dropped. Jordanian troops also took part in that operation.
The White House has said the airborne landings would be a sustained effort, and that Israel supports them. Critics say airdrops are far less effective than aid deliveries by truck, and it is virtually impossible to ensure supplies do not reach militants.
“Israel welcomes the US humanitarian airdrops, which have been discussed and coordinated with us,” an Israeli official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.
As talks resume in Egypt on Sunday, a senior US official said the framework for an agreement on a six-week ceasefire was in place, with Israel’s agreement, and was conditional on the militant group Hamas’s agreement to to release hostages.
“The hostages must be released,” the official told reporters. ‘The deal is basically done. But I don’t want to create expectations in any way.’
US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz at the White House on Monday, a White House official told Reuters.
In Jerusalem, thousands of Israelis marched to demand the release of about 134 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Protesters, led by families of hostages captured during Hamas’s deadly rampage through southern Israel on October 7, arrived in the city at sunset.
