US Military Carries Out New Airdrop of Aid into Gaza

 Packages fall towards northern Gaza, after being dropped from a military aircraft, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as seen from Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel March 7, 2024. (Reuters)
Packages fall towards northern Gaza, after being dropped from a military aircraft, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as seen from Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel March 7, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Military Carries Out New Airdrop of Aid into Gaza

 Packages fall towards northern Gaza, after being dropped from a military aircraft, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as seen from Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel March 7, 2024. (Reuters)
Packages fall towards northern Gaza, after being dropped from a military aircraft, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, as seen from Israel's border with Gaza in southern Israel March 7, 2024. (Reuters)

The US military carried out its third airdrop of aid into Gaza on Thursday, dropping more than 38,000 meals amid an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the crowded coastal enclave.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza, which is supported by the United States, has displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million people and led to critical shortages of food, water and medicine.

In a statement, the US military said the aid was dropped by US and Jordanian C-130 aircraft in northern Gaza.

Aid dropped by air is an expensive and insufficient alternative to aid that is trucked in, given the scale of the humanitarian crisis, US officials say.

President Joe Biden's administration is pressing for greater access by land and also exploring a maritime option.



22 Dead in Shelling of Sudan's Besieged El-Fasher

Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)
Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)
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22 Dead in Shelling of Sudan's Besieged El-Fasher

Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)
Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)

Besieging Sudanese forces pounded El-Fasher on Saturday, witnesses said, killing 22 people in Darfur's last city outside their control, according to a hospital source.

El-Fasher has become a key battleground in the 15-month-long war pitting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the regular army.

The battle for the North Darfur state capital, seen as crucial for humanitarian aid in a region on the brink of famine, has raged for more than two months.

Witnesses said El-Fasher had come under heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF on Saturday, according to AFP.

"Some houses were destroyed by the shelling," one witness said.

It was the deadliest reported bombardment since the start of the month, when 15 civilians were killed in the shelling of another city market.

Intense fighting for El-Fasher erupted on May 10, prompting a siege by the RSF that has trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Last month, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to the siege.

US mediators are to make a new attempt in Switzerland next month to broker an end to the fighting. The talks are due to open on August 14.