U.S. to build temporary port off Gaza to deliver supplies
— The U.S. military will deploy to set up a temporary port off the coast of Gaza, the Biden administration said Thursday, joining in an international push to open a sea route delivering food and other aid to desperate Palestinian civilians cut off by the Hamas-Israel war and by Israeli restrictions on humanitarian access by land.
The announcement, signalling deepening U.S. involvement in the war and the escalating tensions and fighting in the region, comes as President Joe Biden comes under pressure to act more forcefully to ease what the U.N. says are near-famine conditions for many of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
It also shows the administration resorting to an unusual workaround after months of appealing to Israel, the U.S.’s close ally and top recipient of military aid, to step up access and protection for trucks bearing humanitarian goods for Gaza.
Meanwhile, hopes for reaching a cease-fire before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in the coming days, appeared Thursday to have stalled. Hamas said its delegation had left Cairo, where talks were being held. The outline for the cease-fire would have including a wide infusion of aid into Gaza.
A widening humanitarian crisis across Gaza during five months of war and tight Israeli control of aid trucks has left virtually the entire population desperately short of food, the U.N. says. Medical workers in northern Gaza this past week reported 15 children dead of starvation there, and said six other children on the verge. In a meeting pressing Israel Ambassador Michael Herzog to provide access and security for more aid trucks, the U.S. international development director, Samantha Power, warned that blockaded Gaza “faced a real risk of famine,” her office said Thursday.
Israel accuses Hamas of commandeering some aid deliveries.
The U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Biden’s announcement before his State of the Union speech, said the planned operation will not require American troops on the ground to build the pier that is intended to allow more shipments of food, medicine and other essential items from a port in the Mediterranean island country of Cyprus. They gave few other immediate details, including how many U.S. troops would take part.
The U.S. officials said it would likely take weeks before the pier was operational.
One of the options under consideration is for the military to provide a floating pier called a JLOTS, or Joint Logistics-Overthe-Shore, another U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the options before a decision has been made. The large floating pier allows supplies to be delivered without having a fixed port in place, alleviating the need to have troops on a dock on shore. Ships can sail to the pier, which is secured by anchors, and dock there.
Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement Thursday that U.S. officials and international partners were looking at options, including using commercial companies and contractors to aid in the delivery.
Officials from the U.S., Europe, Israel and the Middle East have already been in discussions and preparations on the possibility of opening a sea route. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in November offered use of his country’s port in Larnaca for aid deliveries to Gaza, a 370-kilometre journey from Cyprus.