AMMAN: The Jorda­nian army on Monday said it had carried out a series of humanitarian aid drops of food and other supplies into the besieged Gaza Strip, one of them by a French army plane.

Jordanian forces made “four air drops carrying aid for the people of Gaza”, under the directive of Jordanian King Abdullah II, a statement said.

The operation came on the same day that two human rights groups accused Israel of further limiting humanitarian aid into Gaza — where the UN has warned of famine — despite an order from the UN’s top court.

Jordan has conducted a total of 16 air-drop operations since the Israeli aggression in Gaza. Previously announced air drops, including a joint operation with the Netherlands, sent medical and other aid to the Jordanian field hospital in northern Gaza.

Monday’s operation “aimed at delivering aid to the population directly and drop it along the coast of the Gaza Strip from north to south,” the Jordanian army statement said.

It comprised “relief and food supplies, including ready-made meals of high nutritional value, to alleviate the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip”, the statement added.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2024