Currently Online 
Settler attacks reported across occupied West Bank
The Palestinian Wafa news agency has reported several setter attacks taking place across the West Bank.
- Settlers seized a park in the village of Qaryout, south of Nablus, taking control of a building under construction in the middle of the park and raising an Israeli flag above it. They also took control of a water spring on the outskirts of Qaryout.
- Palestinian farmers have been attacked in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of Salfit, in the central West Bank. Settlers attempted to stab Muhammad Yaqoub Rayan, a resident, with a sharp object and fired live ammunition at other farmers.
- Settlers stormed the homes of Palestinian residents in Arab al-Malihat, northwest of Jericho, beating and wounding several of them.
International community not putting ‘enough effort’ into Gaza aid delivery
Mahjoob Zweiri, director of the Gulf Study Centre in Doha, has told Al Jazeera that he believes the international community is not putting enough pressure on Israel to allow trucks to enter Gaza, opting instead for airdrops that are far less efficient.
“Why not send food in through Karem Abu Salem?” Zweiri said. “There are 2,000 trucks waiting to get into Gaza” at border crossings, he said, while food and medicines pile up for months past their expiry dates.
“Why isn’t the international community not putting enough effort into delivering aid in an organised manner?” he asked.
The analyst added that airdropped aid may land in the sea or in areas under bombardment, making it impossible for people to consume or retrieve it.
US confirms aid airdrop with Jordan
Here’s the statement from the US Central Command, confirming earlier widespread reports that the US had conducted humanitarian aid airdrops in Gaza:
“U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Gaza on March 2, 2024, between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict.
The combined operation included U.S. Air Force and RJAF C-130 aircraft and respective Army Soldiers specialized in aerial delivery of supplies, built bundles and ensured the safe drop of food aid.
U.S. C-130s dropped over 38,000 meals along the coastline of Gaza allowing for civilian access to the critical aid.
The DoD humanitarian airdrops contributes to ongoing U.S. government efforts to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza. We are conducting planning for potential follow-on airborne aid delivery missions.
These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors and routes.”
There are 576,000 people one step away from famine, and 2.2 million overall in urgent need of food.
You need 58 of these flights a day just to provide one meal per person.
One drop with potential follow-on is just a photo op, one meal for 1.7% of the people in need, or one meal for 6.6% of those one step away from famine.
This is downscaling aid delivery, not upscaling. It's a desperate solution for impossible to reach areas, like the North of Gaza as long as Israel keeps the other crossings closed and delivery from the sea blocked. Yet that's all under Israel's control. Israel being fine with air drops says enough about how effective they think they are.
Over 2,000 trucks are stuck at Rafah waiting to enter Gaza, 60K tons of aid are waiting at the border. (Food makes up 40% of that)
Food trucks can carry 30 metric tons each.
A C-130 can airlift as much as 19,000 kilograms of cargo or 19 metric tons. (less than 1 truck) To air lift the aid waiting on 2,000 trucks, you need 3,158 flights. For the food alone you need 1270 flights. Just to make up the daily deficit to maintain Januari levels of aid (dropped from avg 100 to 46 a day), you need 85 flights a day. And that was too little leading everyone into famine.
Also the cost
Airdropping food costs about $16,000 per ton, as opposed to $180 per ton on average to move food aid by truck, according to a U.S. Air Force study from 2016. That's $300,000 per flight. The 60K tons of aid waiting cost 10.8 million to transport in on trucks, per plane about 1 billion dollars.
It's another delay tactic, see we're doing something. Totally impractical solution to a dire situation which couldn't wait any longer weeks ago. Yet the propaganda media will go with it while the people in Gaza keep on being starved to death.
