President Joe Biden’s plan to deliver aid to Gaza through a sea corridor will take at least 45-60 days to develop and depends on Tel Aviv’s approval. Israel’s five-month siege and the bombing of the Strip have created a humanitarian catastrophe that is nearing famine.
During his State of the Union address on Thursday, Biden said he ordered the US military to construct a pier off the coast of Gaza that will deliver aid by sea. “Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters,” Biden said.
After the address, several US officials discussed the proposal in more detail. Gaza does not have an existing seaport because the Palestinian enclave is under Israeli military occupation. The New York Times reports that US officials admit that building a temporary floating pier presents significant challenges and could take weeks or months to complete.
The Pentagon envisions a massive 1,800-foot-long floating platform extending into the sea, completely assembled without Americans stepping on dry land. The causeway would then be attached to the shore, allowing vehicles to transport aid from ships via a two-lane road.
The first US ship carrying supplies to build the pier left Virginia on Sunday. The White House says the operations will involve 1000 US troops. Biden pledged that American soldiers would not enter Gaza. It is unclear how Washington plans to secure the port and aid workers without putting soldiers on the ground.
The White House’s effort to deliver more aid to Gaza comes as children are starving to death after five-months of Israel’s siege and bombing campaign. Many Americans view Biden’s unfettered support for Tel Aviv as making Washington culpable for Israel’s many war crimes in Gaza. On Saturday, a protester disrupted Biden’s campaign event in Georgia, referring to the president as “genocide Joe.”
Aid groups and humanitarian experts have slammed the White House for attempting to deliver aid to Gaza via air and sea while providing Israel the weapons it needs to prevent food, water, and medicine from entering the Strip through land crossings. On Friday, a botched aid airdrop crushed five people to death, including two children.
“Airdrops, temporary seaports, and the like are not realistic or lasting solutions to stave off looming famine and sustain life in Gaza,” Melanie Ward, the CEO of Medical Aid for Palestinians, told Al Jazeera. “Five months on, it is long past time for the US, the UK, and others to use their substantial weight to ensure that their ally Israel immediately reopens land crossings into Gaza.”
Tel Aviv has deployed a multi-pronged approach to stifle aid deliveries into Gaza, a policy announced by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in October. The number of aid trucks entering Gaza each day has plummeted from 500 to under 100 over the past five months. Additionally, Israeli forces have attacked the limited number of aid shipments entering the Strip.
The US provides Israel with billions in military aid every year and prevents the UN Security Council from adopting resolutions critical of Israel. However, Biden has refused to leverage this substantial support to pressure Tel Aviv to allow more aid into Gaza.
Israeli cooperation is another factor in the success of aid shipments via sea. After Biden announced the plan, an Israeli official explained that Tel Aviv “fully supports the deployment of a temporary dock,” but wants “full cooperation between the two parties.”
If Tel Aviv requires inspections of aid at Israeli ports, it could lead to the same backups seen at Gaza’s land crossings. Currently, a large shipment of UN-funded food is sitting in an Israeli port. Tel Aviv refuses to allow the ship to be offloaded and the food transported to the starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Additionally, Israel has used inspections to strip life-saving medicine from aid shipments, including antibiotics, under the pretense that the aid could be used by Hamas.
Some charities are working with European countries to deliver aid to Gaza by sea without the US pier. The aid groups Open Arms and World Central Kitchen are attempting to carry 200 tons of food from Cyprus to Gaza. However, as of Sunday, the ship had not left port and did not have a plan for where or how it would get the aid ashore in Gaza.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
“depends on Tel Aviv’s approval.” But of course. The previous port? It was destroyed by Israel, along with the airport. But Israel needs to defend itself. So, the poor darling Palestinian children can just starve to death. Way to go Mr. Biden. Way to go. Way to go world.
This is another Biden con game. First, he’s using it to deflect criticism that the US is allowing Israel to commit genocide.
Worse, he is using it to create a means to directly logistically support Israel’s – and possibly US – troops once the war expands into Lebanon and beyond.
Israel can not defeat Hezbollah without direct US assistance – including boots on the ground, even if those boots are only used to relieve Israeli forces from other duties such as killing Palestinians. Israel ports in a wide war will be under missile fire from Lebanon, Iraq, and elsewhere, Israeli airports will also be under fire. A logistical hub on the Med will allow the US to deliver military aid to Israel when its ports and airports are no longer functional.
In another news, supposedly, the maritime route was….get this….Netanyahu’s idea. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
The port (if built) will not be under the exclusive use of US or other aid countries…! Israel will be using it to attack Gaza from the sea…!
“A sea corridor will take at least 45-60 days to develop and depends on Tel Aviv’s approval”
How is it that food supply can’t just go thru Egypt into Gaza?
I see your point. But I also think that a port protected by the US would be a better solution for Gaza if Gaza still exists by the time it becomes operational.
Would the US respond aggressively to an Israeli attack on a US sponsored port for Gaza? That’s the real question. Isn’t it?
Ask the survivors of the Liberty.
I know. The Liberty should have been avenged. But a port would be harder to sweep under the carpet.
Not with this lot.
The port could be destroyed by Israel the minute it is completed…!
Israel will not start a war with Egypt if Egypt escorts the food supply with UN forces.
If anything, Turkey will jump in considering that Egypt has a very close relations with the Muslim brotherhood. This is just a waste of time and U.S. clearly has ulterior motive.
Egypt’s government pretty much eliminated the Muslim Brotherhood. Not that that would cut any ice with the Zios.
There will come a point when the people of Egypt will rise up and pitch the US Puppet off his perch.
Israel can kiss it’s gas field goodbye as well as it’s secure southern border.
Doesn’t it take years to built a sea port?
What is the point of this article?
The “Mulberries” of WW2 answer your question. It is “about two weeks if they are ready to go”.
I learned a lot from Kyle’s post.
Gaza already has a port and an airport …..hmmmm
Mowing my lawn by a gardener depends on my approval. That is what this is about.
It’s not their lawn.
An expert on the subject via Shipping News says all methods of temporary docks require personnel on shore to install and maintain the structure. That requires security and that means boots on the ground.
We’re about to touch the tar baby.
Joe Biden is joker.
Nothing but a PR to attract undecided voters…!
Here’s a thought: Why don’t we just TELL Bibi to open the F*****g gates or we will cut off all future aid!
exactly
The port will most likely not be used for bringing aids to Gaza… rather shipping homeless Palestinians to another place…! Where…?
They don’t even know yet…!
Building will proceed right up till Nov 5th, that’s all Biden cares about.
Over at the Duran.locals.com there is information that this Biden “Port” in Gaza is to resupply Israel in the event of war with Hesbollah and not any sort of relief for Palestinians being bombed & starved by The Zionist genociders. The port is to assist the genocede. not its victims. Does anyone think this bomb & starving the Palestinians will generate any goodwill for the Jewish State….???? Or is it more likely to create the dreaded antisemitism in the world..????
Hmmmm…sort of reminds me of the Bridge to Nowhere of a few years back. Coming soon: a pier to nowhere.
I’m sure it will be part of his shining legacy of humanitarian compassion.