AP reporters aboard a U.S. military plane watch small batches of aid airdropped on Gaza

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — As American military pilots closed in on the northern coast of Gaza, Associated Press journalists aboard the aid mission watched as three tons of humanitarian aid — food, water and hygiene products supplied by Jordan — 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 since the U.S. began the program at the start of March.

“We understand that 6,400 pounds is a drop in the bucket. There are so many people that need aid out there,” Jeremy Anderson, the American lieutenant colonel with the 26th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron aboard the aircraft, told the AP reporters who observed the aid delivery Thursday. “We’re doing what we can right now, and opening ground gates or anything outside of air dropping is out of our control.”

The airdrops are part of an international effort to work around extreme difficulties plaguing ground transport of aid into Gaza. Truckloads of aid have been stalled by political and security concerns. The U.S. also plans to construct a sea bridge, but it will likely be several weeks before it is operational.

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.

Dropping aid from the sky can be dangerous — a recent airdrop killed five people when a package’s parachute failed to engage.

Anderson said the crew’s equipment was built to avoid similarly fatal incidents.

“If a chute doesn’t open, it’s going to go in the water and nobody’s going to get hurt. As far as receiving, these chutes are light enough and have a slow enough rate of fall that even a child could get under it and tip it over on its way down, and it would prevent injury or death to personnel,” he said.

The journalists looked on as, one by one, the aid packages rolled off the aircraft and disappeared from view.