US, Jordan conduct joint aid airdrop to Gaza

U.S. and Jordanian aircraft on Saturday dropped food supplies to Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip in a joint humanitarian aid operation, U.S. Central Command said. The airdrops by a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft and a Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130 aircraft came as the main U.N. agency working in the enclave said that one in three children under age two is acutely malnourished.

U.S. and Jordanian aircraft on Saturday dropped food supplies to Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip in a joint humanitarian aid operation, U.S. Central Command said.

The airdrops by a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft and a Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130 aircraft came as the main U.N. agency working in the enclave said that one in three children under age two is acutely malnourished. It warned of looming famine. In a statement, U.S. Central Command called the airdrops "part of a sustained effort and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries."

Much of Gaza lies in ruins and its 2.3 million Palestinian residents face serious food shortages more than five months after Israel launched an air and ground offensive following the Oct. 7 rampage into Israel by the enclave's ruling Hamas militants. Queen Rania of Jordan, in a CNN interview, called the airdrops "literally just drops in the ocean of unmet needs" and she accused Israel of "cutting off everything that is required to sustain a human life: food, fuel, medicine, water."

Countries should not be using the airdrops "as an excuse" for not pressing Israel into agreeing to an "immediate and sustained ceasefire, opening all access points into Gaza" and streamlining the process of inspecting aid shipments, she said. The United States, Israel's main ally, and other countries have been urging Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel blames U.N. agencies for slow deliveries, saying it puts no limits on assistance, and it accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

The United States began aid airdrops on March 2 and is planning a U.S. military sealift of assistance from the island of Cyprus.