US conducts humanitarian airdrops into Gaza

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted another round of humanitarian airdrops on Thursday into northern Gaza for civilians affected by Israel’s war on the enclave.

Planes dropped over 25,000 meals ready to eat (MREs), CENTCOM said on X, adding the US has dropped more than 1,082 tons of humanitarian assistance to date.

"The DoD humanitarian airdrops contribute to ongoing U.S. and partner-nation government efforts to alleviate human suffering," it added, referring to the Department of Defense.

The US has begun to construct a temporary pier off the Gaza coast to deliver humanitarian aid to the enclave, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed Thursday.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv said killed around 1,200 people.

More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, 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.