On March 2, local time, the U.S. ** Command (the agency responsible for the U.S. military's regional operations in the Middle East) sent three C-130 transport planes to drop about 38,000 food portions to Gaza refugees over the central part of the Gaza Strip.
The Royal Jordanian Air Force also sent transport planes to carry out food airdrops along with the U.S. military.
This is the first time that the United States has airdropped food to refugees since the Gaza War led to a refugee crisis. Prior to this, France and the UAE had airdropped some food to Gaza refugees.
It can be seen from the ** circulated at the scene of the U.S. military's airdrop of food, when the U.S. military airdropped food, many Palestinian refugees waited eagerly, and the airdropped food landed near the beach, and many refugees were very urgent and flocked to get these foods.
Such a picture reflects the dire situation of the Palestine refugees at present.
The U.S. military said it would continue to drop food to Gaza refugees. Of course, as some ** in the United States have said, airdropping food is costly, limited in quantity, and inefficient, and cannot fundamentally solve the current plight of Gaza refugees.
So why did Biden approve the airdrop food operation?
Let's take a look at the background of the U.S. military's airdrop of food. There are two main points in this background.
First, the United States and Israel have certain differences on how to treat Gaza civilians and Gaza refugees. In the past two or three months, the United States has been expressing the hope that Israel's military action will take more into account the plight of civilians in Gaza and ensure the safety of civilians in Gaza. It is hoped that Israel will open more crossings to allow relief supplies to enter Gaza.
However, Israel has given priority to the rescue of hostages and the elimination of Hamas, and its military operations have not stopped, and it continues to cause civilians** and refugees to be forced to move.
Two days ago, more than 100 Gaza refugees died in an accident while rushing into a convoy of relief supplies. The Palestinians claimed that they had been shot and killed by Israel; The Israelis, on the other hand, said that most of these people were trampled to death in the chaos.
In any case, this incident reflects the current situation of the desperate need for food for the refugees in Gaza, and also causes the international community to resentment against Israel and the United States.
In this context, Biden's approval of the US Air Force airdrop food has at least two purposes.
First, to put pressure on Israel by airdropping food. The actions of the US military are meant to show Israel that the Gaza Strip is now desperately short of even the most basic foodstuffs, let alone medical and other supplies.
Airdropping food is very expensive and inefficient, but the United States hopes that through such actions, Israel will allow more aid convoys into Gaza and increase the opening of ports to deliver relief supplies to Gaza.
Second, Biden also wants to use this to ease some domestic and international pressure.
As the war in Gaza continues to end, more and more voters in the United States are increasingly sympathetic to Palestinian refugees and increasingly dissatisfied with Biden's pro-Israel policies. In particular, in last week's Democratic primary in Michigan, a large number of voters, including many Arab-American voters, did not vote for Biden when they would have supported Biden. Biden and his team are clearly feeling the pressure to airdrop supplies to Gaza refugees to ease the discontent of these voters.
Second, the United States also wants to take advantage of this to relieve some international pressure.
Although Biden and Israel disagree on specific measures to protect civilians in Gaza, the United States supports Israel's military action as a whole, so many people in the international community are quite dissatisfied with the United States, believing that the United States is responsible for Palestinian civilians and the tragic situation. The United States is also facing increasing international pressure, so it also hopes to alleviate this pressure through the airdrop operation.
It is precisely for this reason that some Arab ** and some Arab commentators believe that the United States airdropping food to Gaza refugees is not really humanitarian, so it is not worthy of thanks, let alone praise.
Of course, the U.S. side has also recently repeatedly said that there is progress in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and that Israel is expected to agree to a ceasefire for about six weeks. If Israel and Hamas can reach an agreement in the near future, and aid convoys and supplies can enter Gaza, the situation of refugees will be much better, and the US military will not need to drop food. (Qian Kejin).