The U.S. has been airdropping humanitarian assistance as Israel impedes and attacks aid convoys on the ground.
Screenshot of video of the fatal "aid" drop
By Thor Benson, Common Dreams
U.S. aid containers airdropped from Army planes on Friday killed at least five people in Gaza and injured others.
It's been reported that the parachutes on the aid containers did not open after being dropped. U.S. President Joe Biden authorized aid airdrops in Gaza last week as Israeli forces continue obstructing shipments on the ground.
"Enough w/ the gimmicks of dropping food from the air & building a pier in two months," Josh Ruebner, an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University and former policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, wrote in a social media post directed at Biden.
Approximately 70,000 meals have been dropped in Gaza over the past week, which is a small portion of what's needed considering the territory has a population of more than 2 million people—almost all of whom are in desperate need of food aid.
President Biden said in his State of the Union address on Thursday night that the U.S. will be setting up a temporary port on Gaza's coastline to deliver aid. Critics have said that Biden should be demanding that Israel simply let the U.S. and other countries deliver aid on the ground.
"Wouldn't it be easier to demand Israel let in aid right now while Palestinian children are literally being starved to death?" Ruebner asked Wednesday. "Waiting 45-60 days to build a temporary pier doesn't help Palestinians starving to death today."
Gaza is facing a severe food and water shortage, and the aid the U.S. is delivering is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the people in the enclave, as President Biden himself has acknowledged. It remains to be seen how much aid the U.S. will be able to deliver via the temporary port.
Thor Benson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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