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US drops food for 38,000 people in Gaza… ‘Five months of lockdown’, struggle for relief supplies

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Biden urgently needs to increase presidential approval rating
Approved despite concerns over ‘falling accident-distribution conflict’
Pressure on Israel for Ramadan ceasefire

On the 2nd (local time), Jordan’s King Abdullah II posted a photo of his country’s military airdropping relief goods to the Gaza Strip in Palestine on social media ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). On this day, the U.S. Central Command, together with the Jordanian military, urgently dropped relief supplies to refugees in the Gaza Strip. This is the first time the United States has dropped relief supplies since the outbreak of the Middle East war in October last year. Photo courtesy of King Abdullah II

The United States mobilized military aircraft on the 2nd (local time) to urgently drop relief supplies into the Gaza Strip, Palestine. After the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas broke out in October last year, neighboring Islamic countries such as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) dropped relief supplies, but this is the first time that the United States has stepped in directly.

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Air-dropping of relief supplies is being criticized as not only dangerous but also inefficient due to accidents during the drop process and conflicts between refugees over distribution. Nevertheless, the decision by the U.S. Joe Biden administration to make emergency airdrops is interpreted as a result of the growing voices both inside and outside the U.S. calling for a quick resolution to the Middle East war ahead of the November presidential election. The Biden administration, which urgently needs to increase its approval rating, is putting pressure on Israel ahead of the Islamic fasting holiday ‘Ramadan’, which begins on the 10th, and is showing its attitude that “we will definitely mediate a temporary ceasefire before Ramadan.”

● Dangerous and ineffective ‘air drop’

On this day, the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, along with the Jordanian military, dropped relief packages containing food for 38,000 people on the Gaza Strip coastline. President Biden gave emergency approval for food aid via aircraft a day later when the Israeli military opened fire on Gaza residents crowded into a relief truck on the 29th of last month, killing more than 100 people.

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However, controversy surrounding the inefficiency of the support method remains. According to the Washington Post (WP), the ‘C-130 cargo plane’ used for this drop can only load 16 packages of 12 boxes of food. It is difficult to confirm whether the items dropped along the coastline from about 3,000 meters above the ground are distributed safely.

Criticism from international aid organizations also followed. Oxfam criticized the United States on social media The U.S. branch of Save the Children also joined in, saying, “It only fuels the chaos on the ground.”

Another problem is that Israel is blocking the import of essential medical supplies such as anesthetics, oxygen tanks, and ventilators. On the 1st, CNN introduced the case of a Palestinian doctor who disinfected the leg of his 17-year-old nephew, who had been attacked by an Israeli missile due to a shortage of anesthetics, with dishwashing detergent and then amputated it using a kitchen knife. He lamented, saying, “I recited the Islamic scripture ‘Quran’ to my nephew, who had his leg amputated in a sober mind, and told him to endure it.”

● Harris meets with political enemy Netanyahu and urges ceasefire

The Biden administration is using various methods to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is negative about the ceasefire. According to US public radio station NPR, US Vice President Kamala Harris decided to meet with Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet and leader of the opposition National Unity Party, at the White House on the 4th. Representative Gantz is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s representative political opponent and is considered to be the next Prime Minister if Prime Minister Netanyahu falls from office.

CNN cited a high-ranking U.S. official on the 2nd as saying that negotiations for a cease-fire plan are accelerating, with Hamas releasing vulnerable hostages such as women, the elderly, and patients, and Israel halting attacks on the Gaza Strip for six weeks while also freeing Palestinian prisoners. reported. This official said, “Israel has mostly accepted this plan. “In fact, only Hamas’ signature is left,” he said.

However, Hamas is maintaining its position that a six-week ceasefire should be the starting point for ending the war, so the United States and mediators such as Qatar and Egypt are known to be operating multiple negotiation lines.

Israel-Palestine War

Source: Donga

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