U.S plans to construct temporary port in Gaza
President Joe Biden was to announce a plan in his State of the Union address Thursday night for the U.S. military to help establish a temporary port on the Gaza coast aimed at increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into the beleaguered territory during the IsraelHamas war, according to senior administration officials.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the operation will not require that American troops be on the ground to build the pier that is intended to allow more shipments of food, medicine and other essential items.
The officials did not provide details about how the pier would be built. One noted that the U.S. military has “unique capabilities” and can do things from “just offshore.” They said it would likely take weeks before it was operational.
The move provides one more layer to the extraordinary dynamic that’s emerged as the United States has had to go around Israel, its main Mideast ally, and find ways to get aid into Gaza, including through airdrops.
Biden last week first raised the idea of establishing a sea-based corridor, saying the U.S. was working with allies on how it might provide assistance from the Mediterranean to those in Gaza.
American Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that he had briefed officials on such a maritime option. Also Thursday, the U.S. conducted a third airdrop in the northern part of Gaza, where there is no Israeli presence. Kurilla said Central
Command has provided options for increasing the number of trucks taking aid to those areas.
Five months of fighting between Israel and Hamas have left much of Hamas-run Gaza in ruins and led to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. Many Palestinians, especially in the devastated north, are scrambling for food to survive.
Aid groups have said it has become nearly impossible to deliver supplies within most of Gaza because of the difficulty of co-ordinating with the Israeli military, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.
The announcement of plans to build the temporary port comes as Hamas said its delegation had left Cairo and that talks on a ceasefire and hostage release would resume next week, making it extremely unlikely that mediators will broker a deal before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Mediators had looked to Ramadan as an informal deadline because the month of dawn-to-dusk fasting often sees Israeli-Palestinian violence linked to access to a major Jerusalem holy site.
Egyptian officials had earlier said the negotiations had reached an impasse over Hamas’s demand for a phased process culminating in an end to the war. But they did not rule out a deal before Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Sunday.
Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha said Israel “refuses to commit to and give guarantees regarding the ceasefire, the return of the displaced, and withdrawal from the areas of its incursion.” But he said the talks were still ongoing and would resume next week. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Officials said the operation will not require that American troops be on the ground to build the pier