White House: U.S. military to build port on Gaza coast

In a White House background briefing this morning on the delivery of humanitarian aid for Gaza, senior officials said that, in his State of the Union speech this evening, President Joe Biden “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.”

“This port, the main feature of which is a temporary pier, will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day,” said a senior official. “We will coordinate with the Israelis on the security requirements on land, and work with the U.N. and humanitarian NGOs on the distribution of assistance within Gaza. Initial shipments will come via Cyprus, enabled by the U.S. military and a coalition of partners and allies.

“This new significant capability will take a number of weeks to plan and execute. The forces that will be required to complete this mission are either already in the region or will begin to move there soon.

“We look forward to working with our close partners and allies in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond to build a coalition of countries that will contribute capabilities and funding for this initiative.

“This effort builds on the Amalthea initiative proposed by Cyprus, which provides a platform at the port of Larnaca for the transloading of assistance and screening by Israeli officials of Gaza-bound goods.

“While our military will lead this effort in the first instance, we look forward to the port transitioning to a commercially operated facility over time.”

Asked whether this would require American boots on the ground on the Gaza coast, the senior official said:

“I don’t want to get ahead of the planning in terms of this operation. You know, and I’m sure we’ll have further details to share with our DOD colleagues soon. But we are not planning for this to be an operation that would require U.S. boots on the ground. But issues in terms of the dates, the timelines, et cetera, those are all things that we’re working through because they require contributions from our partners, from the humanitarian community and others, to make sure that this entire pipeline works effectively.”

In answer to a similar question, a senior defense official said: “Yeah, I can just chime in and say that the concept that’s been planned involves the presence of U.S. military personnel on military vessels offshore 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.”

• Read the full transcript of the background briefing HERE