US plans to establish port on Gaza coast to step up aid deliveries

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The US will set up a port on the Gaza coast for large ships carrying humanitarian supplies, senior administration officials said on Thursday, following weeks of frustration over Israel’s failure to allow more aid into the enclave.

President Joe Biden will announce the decision during his State of the Union address on Thursday evening, as well as the opening of a new land crossing into war-torn northern Gaza in the coming week to deliver assistance by truck.

“The president will announce that he’s directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a port in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters,” a senior US official said.

The dramatic step comes as the Biden administration has been increasingly critical of Israel’s failure to open the way for more humanitarian aid to be delivered via land, which is far more efficient than by sea. The US began airdropping food aid along the Gaza coast over the weekend.

Despite this frustration Biden has been unwilling to use military assistance to Israel as leverage, creating an unusual situation where the US is delivering aid via air and sea to a population under occupation by a close US ally that is also receiving American weapons.

Biden has faced a backlash from some members of his Democratic party over his support for Israel’s war in Gaza. More than 30,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive, according to Palestinian officials. The campaign was in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.

US officials did not provide many of the critical details of the maritime effort, such as who will inspect aid and how it will be delivered once it arrives in Gaza. No US troops are expected to be on the ground…