Jordan's King Abdullah participates in aid airdrop over Gaza

Jordanian King Abdullah II participated in a humanitarian aid drop into war-torn Gaza, according to state TV footage showing him aboard an Air Force C-130 transport plane. The footage, aired on Jordan’s Al Mamlaka channel on Monday, captured the king in military uniform on board the flight.

The king assisted soldiers in dropping a crate containing humanitarian and medical aid, which was destined for the Jordanian field hospital in northern Gaza. This operation was conducted jointly with the Netherlands.

In mid-December, King Abdullah’s daughter, Princess Salma, a first lieutenant and pilot in the Royal Jordanian Air Force, also took part in an airdrop of medical supplies to the field hospital. On November 20, Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein arrived in Egypt’s El-Arish airport near Gaza to supervise the delivery of the second Jordanian field hospital to the besieged Palestinian territory.

The king, who has been vocal in calling for an end to Israel’s campaign, on Thursday left on a tour of major Western capitals and is due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday to lobby for an immediate ceasefire.

Abdullah will prod Washington to pressure Israel to lift hurdles on delivering more aid to Palestinians, saying the obstacles were worsening the plight of over 2 million inhabitants of the enclave facing growing risk of famine, officials said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken during a visit to Amman last month commended Jordan’s “role and leadership in providing life-saving aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”

Jordan succeeded in getting Israel to allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to send deliveries to Gaza through another land route that begins from Jordan, helping ease pressure on the main Rafah border crossing that is limited in capacity.

Jordan has conducted 11 airdrop operations since the war broke out on October 7 between Israel and Hamas militants in the besieged Gaza Strip. Amman has delivered a total of almost 720 tonnes of humanitarian aid from 49 aircraft, 11 of them via airdrops, according to the Jordanian Royal Charity Commission.

325 Jordanian trucks also delivered a total of 4,376 tonnes of aid by land, according to the Commission.

Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank, fears that the Gaza conflict could spread, with wider violence by armed settlers encouraged by the army triggering a large-scale Palestinian exodus to the other side of the Jordan River.

With inputs from agencies.