how will the temporary port of the American army off the coast of Gaza work to deliver humanitarian aid?

Joe Biden ordered his army on Thursday evening to build a port off the coast of Gaza to deliver more humanitarian aid, as famine threatens the more than two million Gazans.

The US Army will build a “temporary port on the coast of Gaza” in order to deliver more humanitarian aid to the enclave, ordered President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address to Congress on Thursday March 7. The construction of this port will take several weeks.

A strong and symbolic decision, while the situation is extremely critical in the enclave, bombarded by the Israeli army since the massacres of October 7 and where humanitarian aid only arrives in trickles. Famine threatens Gazans, particularly in the north of the enclave, where 300,000 people remain. A week ago, more than 100 Palestinians died in a stampede and under bullets from Israeli soldiers during a food distribution. At the same time, talks for a ceasefire are unlikely to succeed before Ramadan, which begins by March 11.

A floating pier

Currently, humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip by land, via convoys, but there are not enough of them and some are attacked or hijacked. Aid is also delivered by air, with airdrops of food but again in too small quantities. Eyes are now turning to the sea, with the announcement of this American emergency mission, in coordination with Israel. The idea is to build an artificial transportable port in Gaza’s territorial waters. The structure must be able to “accommodate large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter”said Joe Biden.

Concretely, the humanitarian aid will leave by boat from Larnaca, Cyprus and will be unloaded 300 kilometers further south, on the docks of this kit structure. Once operational, it will allow hundreds of trucks every day to supply the enclave via a floating jetty. Construction will be carried out in partnership with “allies” on the ground, as well as with the UN and humanitarian organizations, senior US officials said.

Deliver more aid without intervening on the ground

This technical solution has two advantages: giving boats the possibility of unloading large quantities of goods in deep waters, which is currently impossible in Gaza, and allowing the Americans to deliver aid without forcing their army to intervene on the ground. The construction of the port will not require “no ground deployment of American troops”assured Joe Biden.

The main limitation of the initiative is time. The population of northern Gaza is starving and cannot wait several weeks to be fed. During his speech on Thursday, Joe Biden called on the Israeli government to “let more humanitarian aid into Gaza”emphasizing that she “cannot be a secondary consideration nor a bargaining chip”. He also reiterated his call to “an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks”.