WASHINGTON, United States–American cargo planes airdropped more than 36,000 meals to Gaza Tuesday in a joint operation with Jordan, the US military said, as the international community scrambles to curb a growing humanitarian crisis there.

Airdrops by the United States and other countries are aimed at supplementing what officials say is an insufficient supply of aid being brought in by ground to Gaza, where the United Nations has warned that famine is "almost inevitable."

"US Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Northern Gaza on March 5, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict," the military command said in a statement.

"US C-130s dropped over 36,800 US and Jordanian meal equivalents in Northern Gaza, an area of great need, allowing for civilian access to the critical aid," CENTCOM said, adding that "we continue planning for follow-on aid delivery missions."

The United States launched its first airdrop of food into Gaza on Saturday, and the White House official said it was "prepared to do more to increase aid, including through airdrops" and a possible maritime corridor.

- Growing crisis -

Gaza has faced relentless bombardment by Israel since Hamas launched a cross-border attack on October 7 that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Hamas-controlled Gaza has killed more than 30,600 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.

The amount of aid brought into Gaza by truck has plummeted during nearly five months of war, and Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water and medicine.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that visits by the agency to northern Gaza over the weekend found a "lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children," while the Gaza health ministry has said at least 16 children died of malnutrition in the territory's north.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Monday that between 30 to 120 trucks per day had delivered aid to Gaza in the past week.

"That's clearly not enough... to feed the population there," Singh told journalists, while reiterating that airdrops are intended to supplement rather than replace aid brought in by ground.

On Thursday, more than 100 people were killed in chaotic scenes around a convoy of aid trucks in Gaza City.

Gaza health officials said Israeli forces opened fire into the crowd, causing a "massacre," while Israel's army said most victims were trampled or hit by trucks in a crush for food aid.

A United Nations team that visited a Gaza City hospital reported seeing "a large number" of gunshot wounds among Palestinians in the aftermath of the incident.