Jordan army, partner states carry out 5 aid airdrops in northern Gaza

By Laith Al-Junaidi

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) – Jordan's army announced on Saturday that it airdropped medical and food aid into the northern Gaza Strip alongside Egypt, US, and Germany.

“The armed forces carried out five airdrops of medical and food aid, with the participation of a number of friendly countries,” the Jordanian army said in a statement.

“Two C130 aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force participated in the airdrop operation, which targeted a number of locations in the northern Gaza Strip,” it said, noting that “one of the aircraft carried out an airdrop of urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza.”

The army also indicated that one of the planes utilized in airdropping humanitarian assistance belonged to Egypt, another to the US, and one to Germany, which for the first time delivered humanitarian aid by dropping from a plane.

Germany's participation comes in conjunction with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's expected visit to Jordan and Israel over the weekend, according to a previous statement from the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

The Jordanian army explained that "the operation came in cooperation with the Sultanate of Brunei and embodies Jordan's steadfast position in support of the Gaza Strip.”

Meanwhile, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) also announced carrying out an aid airdrop operation with the Jordanian army.

“U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into northern Gaza on March 16, 2024, at 11:58 a.m. (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to civilians in Gaza affected by the ongoing conflict,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

The combined joint operation included “Jordanian provided food and a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft.”

It added that “a U.S. C-130 dropped 16 375-pound bundles of rice, flour, milk, pasta, and canned food, providing life-saving humanitarian assistance in northern Gaza.”

The Department of Defense's humanitarian airdrops contribute to "ongoing U.S. and partner-nation government efforts to alleviate human suffering," it said.

For more than two weeks, Arab countries such as Egypt, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain have conducted joint operations to deliver food aid to the Gaza Strip, in addition to similar operations carried out by the US.

Israel has launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed more than 31,500 victims and injured more than 73,500 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.