The United States has conducted its inaugural airdrop of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, with over 30,000 meals air-dropped by three military aircraft.

This operation carried out in collaboration with Jordan's air force, marks the first of several initiatives announced by President Joe Biden in response to the tragic events where at least 112 individuals lost their lives as crowds swarmed a convoy on Thursday.

The airdrop coincides with the assertion from a senior US official that the framework for a six-week ceasefire deal in Gaza is in place.

On Saturday, C-130 transport planes released more than 38,000 meals along the coastal region of Gaza, as stated by US Central Command.

"This series of airdrops is part of a sustained endeavor to increase aid to Gaza, including efforts to enhance aid distribution through land corridors and routes," the statement affirmed.

While other nations such as the UK, France, Egypt, and Jordan have previously engaged in airdropping aid to Gaza, this marks the first instance for the United States.

The administration underscored that Thursday's "tragic incident" underscored "the critical need to expand and sustain the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza given the dire humanitarian conditions."

Humanitarian agencies have criticized airdrops as an inefficient means of aid distribution.

Displaced Gaza resident Medhat Taher expressed to Reuters his skepticism about the efficacy of such a method, questioning whether the aid provided would suffice for a school or 10,000 people. He suggested that aid be sent via established crossings rather than through airdrops.

In his address on Friday, President Biden emphasized the importance of Israel's cooperation in facilitating increased truck access and additional routes to ensure more individuals receive the necessary assistance.

Meanwhile, a Biden administration official said on Saturday that Israel had "more or less accepted" a deal on a new ceasefire.

"It will be a six-week ceasefire in Gaza starting today if Hamas agrees to release the defined category of vulnerable hostages (...) the sick, the wounded, elderly and women," the unnamed official said.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris will meet Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz in Washington on Monday to discuss a truce and other issues, Reuters quotes a White House official as saying.

In Thursday's incident, 112 people were killed and more than 760 injured as they crowded around aid lorries on the southwestern edge of Gaza City.

Hamas accused Israel of firing at civilians, but Israel said most died in a crash after it fired warning shots.

Georgios Petropoulos, head of the Gaza sub-office of the UN Co-ordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the BBC that he and a team sent to al-Shifa hospital had found a large number of people with bullet wounds.

Hamas meanwhile said an Israeli bombardment had killed at least 11 people at a camp in Rafah in southern Gaza on Saturday. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the attack "outrageous". The Israeli army said it had carried out a "precision strike" against Islamic Jihad militants in the area.

The UN's World Food Programme has warned that a famine is imminent in northern Gaza, which has received very little aid in recent weeks, and where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water.

The Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas after its gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October and took 253 back to Gaza as hostages.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 30,000 people, including 21,000 children and women, have been killed in Gaza since then with some 7,000 missing and at least 70,450 injured.

Nice one.