Link to the article – https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/view-us-military-aid-flight-shows-gaza-desolation-2024-03-12/
Summary – A U.S. Air Force plane flew over Gaza to drop off food for the people in Gaza that are facing famine and starvation in light of the Israel-Palestine war. The members of the Air Force that flew over were shocked by what they saw when flying over. What was once a bustling concrete jungle is not a beat down city with very few signs of life to show the plane crew where to drop the food. The U.S. dropped nearly 27,000 meals and 26,000 water bottles in their aid packages, making our total food contribution to the area over 1 million pounds already this month. The members of the Air Force talked about how it is good to be able to drop food but the most effective way to bring food to Gaza would be through trucks because they can ensure that the people who need the supplies the most are receiving food. Israel continues to deny access to Gaza by truck because they do not want the Palestinians to receive support.
Analysis – What Israel is doing is practically trying to slowly kill Palestinians by starvation and famine. Not allowing trucks into the area when that used to be the main source of food for Gaza is an obvious attempt at starving Palestinians and “playing the long game”. The U.S. is making an effort to give the people of Gaza food because they know that there are 2.3 million people in Gaza and it is not an option for them to all just starve. While we have supported Israel since the war broke out, we do not want to see the death numbers of this war rise exponentially so dropping food is an important action. Also the downfall of Gaza is important to note. Satellite imagery found 30% of buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the Palestinian enclave, showing the damage this war is doing to not only the people, but their city and land as well.
Connection to class – This relates to the UN, the structure and endeavors that it gets into. The U.S. and multiple other countries involved in the UN are making active efforts to support the people in Gaza because they see the problem that Israel is creating for the Palestinians in Gaza. No matter what side they are on, when they see an area in need and hundreds of thousands of people facing famine, they help them because no matter the situation, taking away a population’s food and resources is wrong.