38,000 meals and debates over safe aid corridors
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell questioned the efficacy of air-dropped humanitarian aid into Gaza, a method recently used by the United States for the first time. He described the approach as having minimal impact and carrying civilian risks, insisting that it should be a last-resort option. Instead, he argued that a permanent ceasefire is the best path to ensure large-scale aid deliveries to Gaza and to protect Palestinian civilians. This stance reflects a prioritization of steady, ground-based humanitarian access over aerial drops amid ongoing conflict (European Union statement, 2024).
In a separate critique, Borrell pressed Israel to facilitate ground-based humanitarian access into the Gaza Strip and to guarantee that essential goods can move freely, without barriers, through all border points. He called for the immediate removal of obstacles at the Kerem Shalom crossing and urged opening routes in the north, including the Karni and Erez crossings. He also recommended allowing the Ashdod port to receive humanitarian shipments and establishing a direct humanitarian corridor from Jordan (EU diplomacy spokesperson, 2024).
Meanwhile, the United States has favored air delivery. On Saturday, American forces conducted their first airlift of humanitarian aid to Gaza, distributing roughly 38,000 meals via military aircraft. A spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command noted coordination with Jordan to drop food packages, although the aid did not include water or medical supplies. Humanitarian groups warn that aerial drops fall far short of meeting the region’s needs, where more than two million people face severe food insecurity (U.S. Central Command briefing, 2024).
That same day, President Joe Biden announced the action, following an incident in which Israeli forces fired on a crowd that had gathered to receive food aid in Gaza, resulting in substantial casualties. Tel Aviv attributed the deaths to a crush of people, but Borrell attributed the violence directly to Israeli fire, stating that such shootings against civilians are unjustifiable (EU diplomatic brief, 2024).
The EU’s top diplomat stepped away from the line taken earlier by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, who had publicly refrained from assigning responsibility to Israel and urged an independent investigation instead (EU spokesperson update, 2024).