(Voice of Paul) – President Biden will announce in his State of the Union on Thursday that he is ordering the U.S. military to build a floating pier off Gaza, in what the White House called an “emergency mission” that would allow hundreds of truckloads of additional aid to be delivered by sea to Gazans who are on the brink of starvation.
Based on the description provided by White House and military officials, the temporary port for aid delivery would be built from U.S. ships, and then moved close to shore, attached to some kind of temporary causeway.
Hamas negotiators left Cairo on Thursday without a breakthrough in talks over a cease-fire in Gaza, the group said, as hopes for an imminent truce in its five-month-long war with Israel continued to dim.
International mediators have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of some hostages held in Gaza and Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, but weeks of indirect negotiations appear to have stalled. Hamas wants Israel to commit to a permanent cease-fire during or after hostage releases, a demand that Israel has rejected.
The number of trucks entering Gaza with food and other aid rose in early March compared with February, according to data from the United Nations. But the flow is still far weaker than it was before the conflict between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, even as world leaders call for a vast increase in aid deliveries amid warnings of starvation in the territory.
The cause of the increase was not immediately clear, but it began days after President Biden put pressure on the Israeli authorities to step up aid deliveries.