March 2, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Aid agencies have criticized as ineffective US plans to drop food aid into Gaza, where the United Nations warns hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine, and US ally Israel continues to obstruct the bulk of aid deliveries.

President Joe Biden announced the move on Friday, saying "nowhere nearly enough" aid is entering the enclave. The first drop was made Saturday morning, according to two US officials.

Here's what some humanitarian officials said after the plan was announced:

Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group's UN director, said:

Oxfam's Scott Paul wrote on X that the aid drops "mostly serve to relieve the guilty consciences of senior US officials whose policies are contributing to the ongoing atrocities and risk of famine in Gaza.

"While Palestinians in Gaza have been pushed to the absolute brink, dropping a paltry, symbolic amount of aid into Gaza with no plan for its safe distribution would not help and be deeply degrading to Palestinians."

Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, said on X:

"If the U.S. government disavows the use of any meaningful leverage to bring the Gaza conflict to a close, it is left with desperate and inadequate measures like this to try to address the resulting humanitarian catastrophe around the margins."

This post has been updated to reflect the first US airdrop was made Saturday.

The US has begun airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to two US officials.

President Joe Biden on Friday had announced the US would begin the airdrops soon after saying, “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough.”

Three US C-130 transport planes dropped humanitarian supplies over Gaza on Saturday, according to a US official.

There were 66 total bundles dropped — 22 from each aircraft, the official said.

The bundles were meals dropped for the population of Gaza. There was no water or medical supplies.

Criticism of the US plan: Several aid agencies have previously criticized the US plans to drop food aid into Gaza as ineffective.

Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group’s United Nations director, said on social media: “Humanitarian workers always complain that airdrops are good photo opportunities but a lousy way to deliver aid.”

Oxfam's Scott Paul wrote on X that the aid drops "mostly serve to relieve the guilty consciences of senior US officials whose policies are contributing to the ongoing atrocities and risk of famine in Gaza."

The UN has warned hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine in the enclave.

This post has been updated with additional details on the drops and global reception of the plan.

Ongoing talks to reach a ceasefire agreement to halt the fighting between Hamas and Israel in Gaza by Ramadan appear to still be on track, even after more than 100 Palestinians were killed on Thursday as they tried to access food in Gaza City, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

US officials on Friday said there are no indications that the discussions had been significantly derailed but much hinges on an expected Hamas response to what has been discussed in Paris and Doha in the past week between the other countries involved: Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the US. On Thursday, a Hamas official warned the negotiations could be impacted.

CNN has reached out to several Hamas officials about the potential deal but has not gotten a response.

In the immediate aftermath of the deaths of dozens of Palestinian civilians in Gaza on Thursday, US officials said the chaotic scenes injected added urgency into the hostage and ceasefire talks.

Read the full story here.

The United Nations say many of the Palestinian civilians injured during the carnage at a food aid convoy on Thursday suffered gunshot wounds, citing a UN team that visited the hospital where survivors were taken.

UN Secretary General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a news conference on Friday “from what they saw, in terms of the patients alive and getting treatment is that there is a large number of gunshot wounds,” Dujarric said. 

At least 115 people were killed and 760 injured in an incident where Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops used live fire as hungry and desperate Palestinian civilians were gathering around food aid trucks, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said.

Dujarric added that the UN envoy, made up of members from OCHA, WHO and UNICEF, which visited Al-Shifa, didn’t examine any of the dead bodies so cannot say if the same is true for those killed.

Al-Shifa took in more than 700 injured patients following the food aid site tragedy and about 200 of those remain hospitalized, Dujarric said.  

Conflicting accounts: There are mounting international calls for an independent investigation into the incident, with the circumstances disputed.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli tanks fired warning shots to "cautiously" disperse a crowd gathering around an aid convoy, after seeing that people in the crowd were being trampled. 

But eyewitness accounts suggest the Israeli military opened fire on people near the trucks, causing drivers to pull away in panic.

At least 17 civilians were killed, and dozens injured in Gaza following airstrikes from Israeli military on Saturday, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The airstrikes targeted three houses in Deir al-Balah and Jabalia in Gaza, WAFA report added. 

CNN is unable to independently verify the casualty numbers or claims made by WAFA in its reporting. 

Fifteen of those killed were in two unidentified houses east of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, WAFA reported quoting medical official. These houses were targeted by two Israeli “warplanes,” the report added.

Two others were killed in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, WAFA report said, adding, “Israeli fighter jets struck a house,” resulting in their deaths.

CNN has reached out to IDF for comment on the alleged airstrikes.

Mounting toll: The Gaza Ministry of Health said Saturday that the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30,320, and the total number of injuries has also risen to 71,533. There has been a huge impact on children, with about half of Gaza's population under 18.

The Israeli military announced on Saturday a daily suspension of “military activities” in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, and Deir Al-Balah, until March 7 for “humanitarian purposes,” IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said.

The Rafah crossing from Egypt, where most aid had been delivered into Gaza, is now working at a reduced rate, and the alternate Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel is being blocked by demonstrators calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

In coordination with Israel, several countries have opted to airdrop aid into Gaza to substitute the falling number of aid entering on land through trucks. US President Joe Biden said Friday the US will begin air dropping food aid to the people of Gaza, which will begin “very soon.” 

Adraee posted the suspension schedule on Saturday on X.

Rafah plans: This week, the Israeli military submitted a plan to the war cabinet for “evacuating the population” of Gaza from areas of fighting, amid warnings that an offensive in Rafah will take place soon.

The majority of Gaza's population – more than 1.5 million people – are now crammed into a sprawling tent city in Rafah, the only nominally safe space for Palestinians fleeing the north and center of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with a campaign despite dire international warnings.

At least 115 people were killed and at least 760 were injured after Israeli forces opened fire as Palestinian civilians waited for food on Thursday, according to Dr. Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza. 

It's one of the single deadliest tragedies in Gaza since Israel’s war against Hamas began on October 7.

There are now growing calls for an independent inquiry into the incident. The United Nations has said an independent investigation is required to establish the facts, and nations such as France have backed that appeal.

Here's where things stand:

US airdrops of humanitarian assistance into Gaza will begin "very soon," US President Joe Biden said Friday.

His comments come after he announced earlier Friday in the Oval Office that the US will begin air-dropping food aid to the people of Gaza. Biden also said earlier that the US would be “pulling out every stop” to get additional supplies into Gaza.

Additionally, Biden offered a mixed assessment of hostage talks between Israel and Hamas reaching a deal by Monday, saying that he was both hopeful a deal could be achieved by Ramadan but also that an agreement "may not get there."

Asked if he was confident a ceasefire could be agreed to by Monday — the day he'd earlier this week pointed to as a possibility — Biden suggested it appeared unlikely.

"It looks like we’re still — it’s not there yet. I think we’ll get there but it’s not there yet. And it may not get there now," Biden said.

Biden said he's "still hoping for" a ceasefire, when asked whether he thinks a ceasefire may never be negotiated.

His comments were a starkly realistic view into the state of the talks, which have been advancing for weeks between the US, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and Hamas. The remarks laid bare the difficulties in brokering an agreement between Israel and Hamas that would result in the release hostages and a six-week pause in fighting.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy responded to CNN's detailed investigation into Israel's use of indiscriminate fire that killed half of an entire Palestinian family during a deadly January attack. He acknowledged there were civilian casualties, but blamed Hamas.

Several members of the Abu Jibba family were killed by the shockwave of what was likely a 2,000-pound bomb dropped by the Israeli military. Such a large bomb is, by its nature, indiscriminate when civilians are present.

The Israel Defense Forces has alleged they were responding to fire by militants from an area near where the civilians were sheltering. Survivors of the attack told CNN there were no militants at their location.

The survivors of the attack have said they were not warned in advance. The IDF previously told CNN that they told civilians to begin evacuating days ahead of the bombing. When asked for evidence supporting that claim, the IDF did not provide any.

"If soldiers are coming under attack, clearly there is no time to give a warning for people to evacuate, having already said that the militants terrorists were operating in the area," Levy said.

CNN's Mick Krever contributed reporting to this post.