Biden says US to begin aid air drops in Gaza

President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States would start to deliver relief supplies from the air into Gaza, a day after the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians at an aid convoy.

“We need to do more, and the United States will do more,” Biden told reporters at the White House at the start of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“In the coming days we’re going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing air drops of additional food and supplies,” Biden said in the Oval Office.

The United States would also look at the “possibility of a marine corridor” to deliver large amounts of aid into Gaza, where residents face dire shortages of food, water and medicine, Biden said.

The US president added that he would “insist” that ally Israel, which has pounded the Palestinian territory since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, let in more aid trucks.

“No excuses, because the truth is aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere near enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line,” Biden added.

During his remarks Biden twice said Ukraine, but aides confirmed he meant Gaza.

Biden said Thursday’s aid convoy deaths happened because Gazans were “caught in a terrible war, unable to feed their families — and you saw the response when they tried to get aid.”

Biden added that “hopefully we’ll know shortly” on the progress of negotiations towards a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The United States has backed Israel since the October 7 attacks and supplied it with weapons, but it has also urged its ally to reduce Palestinian civilian deaths, saying they are much too high.