U.S. military cargo planes air-dropped 38,000 meals into the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, as part of a series of drops planned by the United States to help curb a growing humanitarian crisis in the war-racked territory.

The United Nations has warned of famine in Gaza, and more than 100 people were left dead earlier this week in a frenzied scramble for food from a truck convoy delivering aid, with Israeli forces opening fire on the crowd.

U.S. President Joe Biden – under mounting political pressure over the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – had announced the imminent air drops on Friday.

“U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Gaza on March 2, 2024, between 3:00 and 5:00 pm (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict,” the U.S. military command said on social media.

CENTCOM said U.S. C-130 military cargo planes “dropped over 38,000 meals along the coastline of Gaza allowing for civilian access to the critical aid.”

U.S. military to airdrop food, supplies in Gaza

The command added that the airdrops are “part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors and routes.”

A CENTCOM official told AFP that the drop was made up of U.S. military rations that did not contain pork, the consumption of which is prohibited by Islam.

Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people. Hamas also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom still remain in Gaza.

Israel responded with a relentless assault on Hamas-controlled Gaza that has taken a devastating toll on civilians trapped there, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The amount of aid brought into Gaza by truck has plummeted during nearly five months of war, and Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water and medicines.

The United Nations has accused Israeli forces of “systematically” blocking access to Gaza, which Israel denies.

Some foreign militaries have air-dropped supplies to Gaza, sending long lines of aid pallets floating down into the war-torn territory on parachutes.

The Star