US resumes air drops aid into northern Gaza

Humanitarian aid dropped on Khan Yunis falls near tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict in the southern Gaza Strip on June 4, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — An American cargo plane dropped more than 10 metric tons of rations into northern Gaza on Sunday, the US military said, after a suspension of such deliveries due to Israeli operations in the area.

Gaza’s population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance after eight months of devastating conflict, and the United States turned to delivering it by air and sea as Israel delayed the entry of aid via land.

The air drop provided “life-saving humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

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“To date the US has airdropped more than 1,050 metric tons of humanitarian assistance” in addition to aid delivered via a temporary pier attached to the Gaza coast, it said.

“These airdrops are part of a sustained effort, and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries,” CENTCOM added.

The Pentagon said in late May that factors including Israeli operations and weather conditions were affecting the drops, while deputy CENTCOM commander Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said Friday that they had been “suspended due to the kinetic operations happening in the north” but were expected to resume soon.

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The latest air drop came a day after aid deliveries were restarted via the pier, which was damaged by bad weather last month and had to be repaired in a nearby port before being reattached to the coast.

Gaza is suffering through its bloodiest-ever war, which broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,084 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.