WASHINGTON, February 29. /TASS/. Washington is considering the possibility of airdropping humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip from US military planes as deliveries by land become increasingly difficult, the Axios news website reported, citing US officials.

According to the sources, the fact that the US administration is considering such a move indicates its growing concern about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. "The situation is really bad. We are unable to get enough aid [in] by truck so we need desperate measures like airdrops," one of the officials said. The sources point out that the White House only recently started discussing this option.

"The officials said that airdrops can offer some help due to the extreme need, but the only way to move aid into Gaza at the scale that is required is by land," Axios notes.

According to the United Nations, the amount of aid reaching Gaza fell by half in February compared to January. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that a joint operation with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the US and France had been carried out with 160 packages of food and medical equipment airdropped into southern Gaza and the Jordanian field hospital in Khan Yunis.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7, 2023, after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people hostage. Israel started carrying out retaliatory strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. On December 1, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire that had taken effect on November 24 and resumed combat operations in the Gaza Strip.