As American military pilots closed in on the northern coast of Gaza, AP journalists aboard the aid mission could hardly spot a single building left untouched by six months of brutal war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They watched as three tons of humanitarian aid \u2014 food, water and hygiene products supplied by Jordan\u2014 tumbled out of the rear of the C-130 transport plane, a mess of parachutes trailing behind. It was the 11th American airdrop of aid<\/a> since the U.S. began the program at the start of March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe understand that 6,400 pounds is a drop in the bucket. There are so many people that need aid out there,\u201d Jeremy Anderson, the American lieutenant colonel aboard the aircraft, told the AP reporters who observed the aid delivery Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re doing what we can right now, and opening ground gates or anything outside of air dropping is out of our control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The airdrops are part of an international effort to work around\u00a0extreme difficulties plaguing ground transport of aid into Gaza<\/a>. Truckloads of aid have been stalled by political and security concerns. The U.S. also plans to construct a\u00a0sea bridge<\/a>, but it will likely be several weeks before it is operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli warplanes and ground troops have conducted a scorched-earth campaign on the strip since Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The Israeli offensive has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, pushed a quarter of the strip\u2019s population to the brink of starvation, according to UN officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The situation is most desperate in the north, where the C-130 crew conducted the airdrops on Thursday. Up to 300,000 Palestinians are believed to have remained there despite Israeli evacuation orders. Cut off since October,<\/a> many have resorted to eating animal feed in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent airdrops of aid by the U.S. and other countries provide far lower amounts of aid than truck deliveries, which have become rare and sometimes dangerous. They have been met with some skepticism from UN officials and rights groups, who say that the method is not best practice when it comes to distributing much-needed aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n