More than 30,000 meals were parachuted into Gaza by three military planes as part of the US’s first airdrop of humanitarian food.
President Joe Biden declared that this operation, which was conducted in conjunction with the Air Force of Jordan, was the first of many.
According to the leader of a well-known charity group, there may be famine in northern Gaza, he told the BBC.
On Thursday, throngs of people rushed to an aid convoy outside Gaza City, killing at least 112 people.
They are being blamed for the murder by Hamas. Israel claims it is looking into this and disputes it.
A senior US official announced that the groundwork for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza had been laid. This coincided with the first US airdrop.
On Saturday, a representative of the Biden administration stated that Israel had “more or less accepted” the agreement.
“It will be a six-week ceasefire in Gaza starting today if Hamas agrees to release the defined category of vulnerable hostages (…) the sick, the wounded, elderly and women,” the unidentified official stated.
On Sunday, mediators are scheduled to meet again in Cairo, and representatives from Israel and Hamas are anticipated to show up for talks, according to Egyptian officials.
According to one official, there were still some technical concerns around a potential agreement that remained to be worked out, such as the number of Palestinian detainees that Israel would release in exchange for Hamas hostages.
More than 38,000 meals were dropped by C-130 transport planes along the Gaza coastline on Saturday, according to a statement from US Central Command.
“These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors and routes,” it stated.
While aid has previously been airdropped into Gaza by the UK, France, Egypt, and Jordan, this is the first time the US has done so.
The leader of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, has recently returned from a three-day trip to Gaza.
“This is much, much worse than I was expecting,” Mr. Egeland stated in a Sunday interview with the BBC.
“We are starving, we are dying here,” they say, reaching out to grasp your hand.
He declared, “I think there is famine in the north,” and mentioned that Israel had prevented any relief from reaching the 300,000 people living in ruins.
US administration officials said that Thursday’s “tragic incident” had highlighted “the importance of expanding and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza in response to the dire humanitarian situation”.