WASHINGTON: US and Jordanian aircraft on Saturday dropped food supplies to Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip in a joint humanitarian aid operation, US Central Command said in a statement.
The airdrops by a US Air Force C-130 aircraft and a Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130 aircraft came as the main UN agency working in the enclave said that one in three children under age two is acutely malnourished. It warned of looming famine.
US Central Command called the airdrops “part of a sustained effort and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries.”
Much of Gaza lies in ruins and its 2.3 million Palestinian residents face serious food shortages more than five months after Israel launched an air and ground offensive following the Oct. 7 rampage into Israel by the enclave’s ruling Hamas militants.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, and other countries have called on Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid. Israel blames UN agencies for slow deliveries, saying it puts no limits on assistance.
The United States began aid airdrops on March 2 and is planning to begin a sealift from the island of Cyprus.
US, Jordan conduct joint aid airdrop to Gaza
https://arab.news/5rxkx
US, Jordan conduct joint aid airdrop to Gaza
- US Central Command called the airdrops “part of a sustained effort and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries”
- Much of Gaza lies in ruins and its 2.3 million Palestinian residents face serious food shortages
Thousands stage pro-Gaza rally in Istanbul
- Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory
ISTANBUL: Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory.
Demonstrators gathered in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city’s Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: “We won’t remain silent, we won’t forget Palestine,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.
More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police sources and Anadolou state news agency said some 500,000 people had joined the march at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song “Free Palestine.”
“We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians,” said Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.
Turkiye has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza and helped broker a recent ceasefire that halted the deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.
But the fragile October 10 ceasefire has not stopped the violence with more than more than 400 Palestinians killed since it took hold.
