President Biden will announce during his State of the Union speech on Thursday that he’s ordered the U.S. military to construct a port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian assistance by sea.
Senior administration officials said the move will bolster efforts to get aid to Palestinian civilians and the U.S. military will operate as “an emergency mission” to build the port. Gaza has suffered Israeli military strikes for months in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on the Jewish state.
“We know the aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere near enough and nowhere near fast enough. The president will make clear again this evening that we all need to do more and the United States is doing more,” a senior administration official told reporters.
Officials said the U.S. military will be assisted by “like-minded countries and humanitarian partners,” including the United Nations with initial supplies arriving from Cyprus.
The plan will include U.S. personnel already working in the region and won’t require any boots on the ground. U.S. service members will work on offshore military vessels and will not be required to go into Gaza to build the port.
The port, which would be temporary, would increase the amount of humanitarian assistance to war-torn Palestine by hundreds of additional truckloads per day, the official said. It would also be large enough to receive large ships with food, water, medicine and other supplies.
The U.S. and Israel will coordinate security to ensure the port is safe from terror attacks or stray bombings with the official saying the two nations will work “very closely” on the project.
Mr. Biden in recent weeks has become more outspoken about getting aid to Palestine as poll numbers reveal young progressives, Muslims and Arab-Americans, which amount to a large part of his base, have soured on him. They say the president hasn’t shown enough sympathy to the Palestinians and has not called for a permanent cease-fire in the region.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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