US conducts humanitarian airdrops into Gaza

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted another round of airdrops of humanitarian assistance into northern Gaza on Tuesday to provide relief to civilians affected by the ongoing war.

"The joint operation included two C-130 U.S. Air Force aircraft, and U.S. Army Soldiers specialized in aerial delivery of U.S humanitarian assistance supplies," CENTCOM said on X.

The planes dropped over 25,300 US meal equivalents into northern Gaza, it added.

"To date, the U.S. has dropped 891 tons of humanitarian assistance," it said.

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 33,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 76,600 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

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

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

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