While Israel continued its attack, aid organizations issued warnings of an escalating humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave. On Saturday, the US military launched its first airdrop of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, according to US authorities.
More than 38,000 meals were dropped by three C-130 aircraft into an area where the UN estimates that 25% of the population is on the verge of starvation. Palestinians also shared videos of the relief boxes being dropped on social media.
The airdrops occurred over the town of Mawasi and southwest Gaza, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The airdrops will be a continuous effort, according to the White House, and Israel is in favor of the mission.
Opponents claim that the effectiveness of airdrops is limited and that it is practically hard to guarantee that supplies do not fall into the hands of terrorists.
A senior U.S. official stated that the structure for an agreement on a six-week truce was in place, with Israel’s assent, and depended on the militant group Hamas agreeing to free hostages. Talks in Egypt are scheduled to begin on Sunday.
The official told reporters, “The hostages have to be released.” “The agreement is essentially in place. Therefore, I don’t want to set any kind of expectation.”
According to a White House official who spoke to Reuters, Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz and US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet at the White House on Monday.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed in Gaza when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent in Rafah, where people are seeking sanctuary from Israel’s military offensive. The Israeli military killed eight militants in Khan Younis, around 20 militants in the central Gaza Strip, and three more in Rimal, near Gaza City. More than a million Palestinians have been seeking refuge in the Rafah area, fleeing the Israeli offensive that has laid waste to much of Gaza, killing more than 30,000 people.
International pressure for a ceasefire has grown, with the United Nations warning that more than 500,000 of Gaza’s population is one step away from famine. Three people searching for food in farmland in the northern Gaza Strip area of Beit Hanoun on Saturday were killed by Israeli strikes, residents and medics said. Thirteen children have died at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza in the last three days from dehydration and malnutrition, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Plans for the U.S. airdrop over Gaza were announced by President Joe Biden on Friday, a day after the deaths of Palestinians queuing for aid drew renewed attention to the humanitarian catastrophe. Israel and Hamas have been negotiating via mediators including Egypt and Qatar. Two Egyptian security sources said Israeli and Hamas delegations were expected in Cairo on Sunday to resume indirect talks, but an Israeli report cast doubt on this.
(Reuters)
