The United States army, in coordination with the Jordanian Air Force, on Tuesday conducted a second airdrop of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.
According to a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM), US C-130s dropped over 36,800 US and Jordanian meal equivalents in northern Gaza.
“The DoD humanitarian airdrops contribute to ongoing US and partner nation government efforts to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza. We continue planning for follow-on aid delivery missions,” the statement said.
“These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors,” it concluded.
The first airdrop, which took place on Saturday, saw US C-130 aircraft dropping 38,000 meals along the Gaza coastline.
The operation came one day after President Joe Biden announced that the US will begin airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza in the coming days.
In his announcement, Biden stressed that the current flow of aid to the Strip is not enough and added, “We’re going to pull out every stop we can."
Biden was critical of Israel for the lack of humanitarian aid entering Gaza, saying, “In addition to expanding deliveries by land, as I said, we’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses.”
“Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere near enough… Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line,” the President said. “We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several. And I won’t stand by, we won’t let up and we’re… trying to pull out every stop we can to get more assistance in.”
The Biden administration warmed up to the idea of airdropping aid to Gaza after Jordan conducted several rounds of aid airdrops in Gaza. Its most recent drops were done with the cooperation of Egypt and France.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II himself participated in an airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza in February.