President Biden is to announce on Thursday during his State of the Union address that the U.S. military will build a port in Gaza.
The development was revealed earlier Thursday by a senior administration official discussing humanitarian aid for the Hamas-controlled territory.
“Tonight in the speech, the president will announce that he’s directing the U.S. 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,” the official said.
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Declining to get ahead of the Department of Defense in terms of the number of personnel involved in the operation and security questions, the official said mechanisms would be established with assistance from the United Nations and humanitarian partners to distribute the aid on land within Gaza.
“This is foreseen to be an operation that won’t require U.S. boots on the ground,” the official reiterated. “I think one of the reasons why this development is so key is that we’re building a redundant system so that we aren’t relying on one or two crossings as single points of failure in terms of being able to get assistance in.”
Another official on the call clarified that the operation to build the port involves U.S. military personnel on military vessels “but does not require U.S. military personnel to go ashore to install the pier or causeway facility that will allow the transportation of humanitarian assistance ashore.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
