Israel and Hamas at war, day 148 | US begins aid airdrops on Gaza

The United States carried out on Saturday a first operation to drop humanitarian aid on the Gaza Strip, threatened with famine according to the UN after almost five months of war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas which left more than 30,300 dead.

The operation comes two days after Israeli soldiers fired on a hungry crowd who rushed on a humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza City, a tragedy which left 116 dead according to the Palestinian Islamist movement.

Faced with the difficulties of transporting humanitarian aid by road, particularly to the north of the besieged territory, several countries have recently parachuted cargoes there, notably Jordan with the support of France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. , as well as Egypt in cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.

“Air drops cannot and must not replace humanitarian access,” nevertheless warned the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC).

“We received two bags of flour from the aid that arrived on the day of the massacre in Gaza on Thursday,” said Hicham Abou Eïd, a 28-year-old resident of the Zeitoun neighborhood: “This is not enough. Everyone is hungry. Aid is rare and insufficient.”

38,000 meals

Three US military planes dropped 66 “packages” equivalent to more than 38,000 meals, in a joint operation with Jordan, according to an official from the US Middle East Military Command (Centcom).

On Friday, American President Joe Biden announced that his country would participate “in the coming days” in humanitarian aid drops on Gaza.

Cargoes by land, subject to the green light from Israel which has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2007, only arrive in very limited quantities via Rafah from Egypt.

And their transport, particularly in the north of the territory, is perilous due to fighting, Israeli bombings, rubble blocking roads and sometimes looting.

“We will insist that Israel facilitate the entry of more trucks […] There really isn’t enough aid arriving in Gaza,” Joe Biden said.

Israel more or less agreed to a truce in Gaza

A senior American official assured Saturday that Israel had “more or less” agreed to a truce in the war in Gaza and that now “the ball was in Hamas’ court” for it to come into force.

“There is a deal on the table. The Israelis more or less accepted it. And a six-week ceasefire could begin today in Gaza if Hamas agrees to release a well-defined category of vulnerable hostages,” the US official said.

He said that, for now, “discussions continued” to seal an agreement before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, in a week.

“The Israelis accepted in principle the elements of the agreement. The ball is in Hamas’ court,” he insisted.

“There has been significant progress in recent weeks, but as always, there is no agreement until everything is decided,” added this senior official, who requested anonymity, during an exchange with the press.

He clarified that the six-week truce was designed as a “first phase”, with the objective of achieving “something more lasting”, in particular to be able to massively increase humanitarian aid.

This interview, during which two other senior White House officials spoke, also focused on the first aid drops from the Americans on the Palestinian territory, bombed and besieged by Israel, and threatened with famine.

These airdrops of humanitarian aid or possible deliveries by sea, another option studied by Washington, “cannot replace the necessary entry of aid by as many land routes as possible,” insisted a senior official. .

Gunshot wounds

An aid distribution in Gaza City turned tragic on Thursday when several hundred people rushed onto humanitarian aid trucks.

Hamas claims that the Israeli army opened fire on the crowd, while Israel acknowledges “limited shooting” by soldiers who felt “threatened”, ensuring that the majority of those killed were killed in a stampede.

A UN team said it found “a large number” of gunshot wounds at a hospital in the city where many victims had been admitted.

The international community has called for an investigation into this tragedy and an immediate ceasefire in the war triggered by an unprecedented attack carried out on October 7 in southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza.

Israel, which has vowed to annihilate Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, along with the United States and the European Union, continued its bombings, especially in Khan Younes and Rafah in the south, according to correspondents. of the AFP.

The strikes have left at least 92 dead in the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry of Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007.

Strike at Rafah

At least 11 people were killed “and nearly 50 others injured, including children” in a strike on a tent camp housing displaced people near a hospital in Rafah, the ministry said.

It also reports 13 children dying of “malnutrition and dehydration” in recent days.

The toll of the war in the Gaza Strip continues to rise with a total of 30,320 dead, the majority civilians, according to the same source.

Since October 7, the Israeli army has been relentlessly shelling this strip of land approximately 40 km long and 10 km wide. On October 27, its soldiers launched a ground operation in the north, which gradually extended to the south.

The attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 in Israel resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.

Around 250 people were kidnapped. According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 31 of whom are believed to have died, after the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian detainees during a truce at the end of November.

This war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory where 2.2 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine, according to the UN.

Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are crowding into Rafah, the vast majority displaced people trapped against the closed border with Egypt, and fear an Israeli ground offensive.