Biden to order US military to open emergency port in Gaza

President Joe Biden is directing the U.S. military to undertake an emergency mission to open a port on the coast of Gaza in order to ramp up aid deliveries to starving Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden will announce the mission, which senior Biden administration officials said would not involve putting U.S. troops on the ground in Gaza, during his State of the Union address on Thursday night.

The U.S. will work with “like-minded countries and humanitarian partners” to set up a temporary pier on the Gaza coast to allow shipments of aid — including food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters — into the country, officials said. The port will allow for “hundreds” more truckloads of aid to enter Gaza daily, one official said, but would take “a number of weeks” to set up.

Shipments will be delivered to the port by the U.S. and allies via Cyprus. The U.S. worked closely with the Israeli government in developing the plan, the official said, and will coordinate with the Israelis on security requirements, while also coordinating with the United Nations and non-governmental organizations to actually distribute the food and other aid within Gaza.

The mission to set up the port will involve “the presence of U.S. military personnel on military vessels offshore, but does not require military personnel to go ashore to install the pier or causeway facility that will allow the transportation of humanitarian assistance ashore,” a senior defense official said.