The US announced it will airdrop food and supplies into Gaza, a day after more than 100 people were killed and hundreds injured while trying to reach a relief convoy in the war-torn region. US President Joe Biden said that the airdrops would begin soon, and that the US will look at other ways, too, to deliver aid to the over five lakh people in the Gaza Strip.
Other countries like Jordan and France have already airdropped aid into Gaza.
At least 115 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 others injured, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, in the rush to collect aid from the trucks on Thursday. While the Hamas officials allege that Israeli troops opened fire at the huge crowds resulting in the huge toll, Israel has categorically denied it, blaming the deaths on stampede.
"We need to do more and the United States will do more," Biden told reporters, adding that the "aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough." "Innocent lives are on the line and children's lives are on the line. We won't stand by until we get more aid in there. We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several."
He said that the US was also looking at the possibility of a maritime corridor to deliver large amounts of aid into Gaza.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said that airdrops would become "a sustained effort", adding that the first airdrop would be likely be military MREs (meals ready-to-eat).
The US expects a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas would happen by Ramadan - the Muslim fasting month - which starts on March 10, though Biden admitted that the deaths of Palestinians while seeking aid on Thursday was a setback to the dialogue process.
