Jordan conducts 8 aid airdrops into besieged Gaza

By Laith Junaidi

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) – Jordan said Monday it carried out eight airdrops of humanitarian aid in the besieged Gaza Strip, in cooperation with six other countries.

The operation involved aircraft from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Singapore, the US and the UK, the Jordanian army said in a statement.

The aid was airdropped in several areas in the northern Gaza Strip, it added.

The Jordanian army has conducted 58 airdrops since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip last October, in addition to 93 airdrops carried out jointly with other countries.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

At least 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

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

The Israeli war, now in its 171st day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement 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 is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. 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.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul