WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Friday that the U.S. will drop food aid into the Gaza Strip, noting that the humanitarian aid flowing into the region for Palestinians is insufficient.
“Aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere nearly enough… lives are on the line,” Biden said as he announced the decision about the airdrops during an Oval Office meeting he was holding with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several,” he continued. “We’re going to pull out every stop we can.” The president reiterated that the U.S. is trying to push for an immediate cease-fire between Hamas and Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, where he said “innocent people” have died.
In remarks in the Oval Office, Biden said the United States would be “pulling every stop we can to get more aid into Gaza” while negotiations continue for a temporary cease-fire.
“Innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families, and you saw the response when they tried to get aid,” Biden said, apparently referring to the deaths Thursday of a reported 115 Palestinians who were trampled to death or killed by Israeli military forces after swarming an arriving food convoy.
“We need to do more, and the United States will do more, and in the coming days we are going to join with our friends from Jordan and others to provide airdrops of supplies into Ukraine,” he said, apparently referring to Gaza. “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now — it’s nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line.” Biden said the United States would also “seek to open up other avenues … including the possibility of a marine corridor delivering large amounts of humanitarian assistance.”
