United States: Joe Biden has confused Gaza with Ukraine twice while announcing US humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
The US President assured that humanitarian assistance would be airdropped into Gaza and said that the United States would ‘insist’ Israel did more to facilitate help for those affected by famine and the effects of war, stating that, “Children’s lives are on the line.”
Reports suggest that the president’s fitness for duty has been questioned as his memory was found to be limited during a physical fitness test. However, Biden’s doctor declared him ‘fit for duty’ after conducting a detailed neurological exam that found no evidence of stroke, neurological disorders or Parkinson’s disease.
Biden erroneously referred to airdrops for ‘Ukraine’ instead of Gaza, requiring White House officials to clarify. Biden announced this while hosting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Washington.
The US president declared that, “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line. We won’t stand by until we get more aid in there. We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several.” The announcement came soon after the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health reported that 30,000 Palestinians had died since the war began last October.
The Gaza Strip is facing severe famine as a result of Israel’s destruction of food supplies and restrictions on the flow of food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies. This has led to widespread starvation and malnutrition among the estimated 2.2 million Palestinians in the area. In addition, aid trucks and Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid have come under Israeli fire.
Speaking in the White House, Biden declared that, “In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others who are providing airdrops of additional food and supplies in Ukraine.”
“The US would seek to continue to open up other avenues in Ukraine, including the possibility a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance. In addition to expanding deliveries by land, we are going to insist Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need,” Biden noted.
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