Biden to announce emergency port on Gaza coast to stem hunger crisis as war rages on

WASHINGTON − President Joe Biden will announce in his State of the Union address that the U.S. is launching an emergency mission to establish a port on the Gaza coast that can receive large shipments of humanitarian aid.

The U.S. is coordinating with Israel and a coalition of partners on the Mediterranean port, according to senior administration officials. U.S. military personnel will assist from vessels offshore, but the operation is not expected to involve American troops on the ground in Gaza, they said.

It was not immediately clear how many U.S. forces would be involved in the complex operation.

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U.S. forces airdropped food aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave last week as the United Nations warned of famine and ongoing combat restricted overland deliveries from Egypt. Twenty people have so far died of malnutrition or dehydration, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported.

"Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in the north of Gaza where children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition," the World Food Program reported on Sunday.

Gazans starve as cease-fire talks stall

It will take weeks to execute the plan, which the officials said would rely on forces in the region and others that will be there soon. Initial aid for the port will come from Cyprus. Shipments will include food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.

The announcement comes as a long-negotiated cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appear to have stalled. A dire hunger crisis in Gaza is putting pressure on Israel, the U.S. and allies to do more to ease the suffering.

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Biden's administration has been pressing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. Officials said Thursday that while the administration continues to believe that land routes are the most efficient and cost effective way to get assistance in to Gaza, they are pursuing every channel possible to increase aid by land, air and sea.

This port that Biden is announcing Thursday will allow for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day, a senior U.S. official said. The aid will be distributed in coordination with humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations. The U.S. military will lead the effort initially, but the concept involves the port transitioning to a commercially-operated facility, the official said.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israeli forces invaded following an Oct. 7 Hamas raid on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. The entire Gaza population, 2.2 million people, now depends on emergency food aid, WFP said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden to announce new port for Gaza aid in State of the Union