Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 7, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 7, 2024
US military carries out new airdrop of aid into Gaza, its third since Saturday
A general view taken from the Israeli side of the border shows aid parcels being airdropped over the northern Gaza Strip on March 5, 2024. (Nicolas GARCIA / AFP)
The US military said it carried out its third airdrop of aid into Gaza today, dropping more than 38,000 meals amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the war-torn coastal enclave.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 massacre, has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and led to critical shortages of food, water and medicine.
In a statement, the US military says the aid was dropped by US and Jordanian C-130 aircraft in northern Gaza.
Aid dropped by air is an expensive and insufficient alternative to aid that is trucked in, given the scale of the humanitarian crisis, US officials say.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is pressing for greater access by land and also exploring a maritime option.
