President Joe Biden on Friday blamed Israel for the lack of humanitarian aid in the Gaza strip, saying there's "no excuses" for not getting more trucks into the ravaged territory in the middle of a war.

Biden made the comments at the White House while hosting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

But Israel this week said there was "no limit to the amount of humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza." It added that the United Nations was distributing just 80% of it. Further, Hamas terrorists were stealing more than 50% of all aid into Gaza anyway, as The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

But Biden maintains it's Israel's responsibility to "facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need."

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military agency responsible for facilitating assistance to Gaza, said Friday in a post on X that "260 aid trucks were inspected & transferred to Gaza."

"This is one of the largest numbers of trucks to be transferred in the last few weeks. In addition, 192 trucks were distributed within Gaza. We are working with partners to ensure aid reaches Gazans in need," COGAT said.

But Biden doubled down.

"No excuses," he said. "Because the truth is, aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough. Now, it's 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."

Biden on Friday approved the U.S. to begin air-dropping humanitarian assistance into Gaza, a day after more than 100 Palestinians were killed during a stampede around an aid convoy. Israel said it was responsible for 10 deaths, when troops fired in self-defense amid a crowd that was encroaching in a threatening way.

Biden said the air drops will begin soon.

• Israel: No Talks Until Hamas Gives List of Hostages
• Israel to US: No Retreat Until Hamas Defeated