By Phil Stewart, Jonathan Landay and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -During President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. military carried out waves of air drops of food into Gaza, delivering some 1,220 tons of assistance.
But the option hasn’t been seriously considered by Donald Trump’s administration, U.S. officials and other sources say, even as he voices concern over starvation in Gaza amid Israel’s nearly two-year-old military campaign against Hamas.
One source said it is seen as an unrealistic option because airdrops would not come close to meeting the needs of 2.1 million Palestinians.
This comes even as close U.S. allies including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Britain have carried out air drops of assistance to Gaza.
Humanitarian aid groups have long been critical of air drops of aid, calling them more symbolic than truly effective when the scale of the need in Gaza requires open land routes for large amounts of aid to enter the enclave.
The heavy packages could also present a danger to civilians on the ground rushing toward the parachuting aid.
“It just hasn’t been part of the discussions,” said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Trump administration deliberations.
A source familiar with the issue said: “It hasn’t been a serious consideration because it’s not really a serious option at this moment.”
Some U.S. officials war-gamed the option and found “it’s absolutely unrealistic,” said the source familiar with the matter. The source said it was unknown how “big a lift capacity” could be managed even if the Israelis approved U.S. use of the airspace.
A diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was unaware of any U.S. interest in participating in the air drop effort.
Another official in a U.S.-allied country which is taking part in the airdrops said there had been no conversations with the United States about Washington taking part in the effort.
The official added that the United States was not providing logistical support for the airdrops being carried out by other countries.
Asked for comment, a White House official said the administration was open to “creative solutions” to the issue.
“President Trump has called for creative solutions ‘to help the Palestinians’ in Gaza. We welcome any effective effort that delivers food to Gazans and keeps it out of the hands of Hamas,” the White House official said.
Israel began allowing food air drops in late July, as global concern mounted about the humanitarian toll in Gaza from the war.
MOUNTING PRESSURE ON ISRAEL
Trump has backed efforts by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to distribute aid to Gazans. He has said the U.S. would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation.
But he has also expressed frustration with the ongoing conflict, saying Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down”, telling reporters on July 26: “Hamas really didn’t want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it’s very bad. And it got to be to a point where you’re going to have to finish the job.”
Israel faces intensifying international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its promotion of GHF’s aid operation, which has distribution sites only in southern Gaza and has been called dangerous and ineffective by aid groups and the United Nations – claims the group denies.
As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fueling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.
Biden faced enormous pressure from fellow Democrats to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Gaza. In addition to aid drops of food assistance including ready-to-eat meals, Biden ordered the U.S. military to construct a temporary pier off Gaza for aid to be delivered to the enclave.
The pier, announced by the former president during a televised address to Congress in March 2024, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 U.S. forces to execute.
But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the U.S. military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for about 20 days and cost about $230 million.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Don Durfee and Daniel Wallis)
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