The Guardian
Joe Biden twice confused Gaza with Ukraine as he was announcing that the US would provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians.
The US president, 81, confirmed on Friday that humanitarian assistance would be airdropped into Gaza and said the US would “insist” Israel did more to facilitate help for those affected by famine and the effects of war, saying: “Children’s lives are on the line”.
Biden twice mistakenly referred to airdrops to help “Ukraine”, leaving White House officials to clarify he was in fact talking about Gaza.
Biden made the announcement while hosting the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, in Washington.
He said: “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line. We won’t stand by until we get more aid in there. We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several.”
Biden’s announcement comes a day after the Hamas-run health ministry said 30,000 Palestinians had died since the war began last October.
Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages as a result of Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies.
Palestinians waiting for humanitarian relief and aid trucks have also come under Israeli fire.
Speaking in the White House on Friday, the US president said: “In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others who are providing airdrops of additional food and supplies in Ukraine [sic].”
Biden said the US would “seek to continue to open up other avenues in Ukraine [sic], including the possibility a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance. In addition to expanding deliveries by land, we are going to insist Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need.”
The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, France, Jordan and the UK have already carried out airdrops.