Written by
Nick Blenkey
In a White Home background briefing this morning on the supply of humanitarian help for Gaza, senior officers stated that, in his State of the Union speech this night, President Joe Biden “will announce that he’s directing the U.S. navy to steer an emergency mission to determine a port within the Mediterranean, on the Gaza coast, that may obtain giant ships carrying meals, water, drugs, and short-term shelters.”
“This port, the primary characteristic of which is a short lived pier, will present the capability for lots of of further truckloads of help every day,” stated a senior official. “We’ll coordinate with the Israelis on the safety necessities on land, and work with the U.N. and humanitarian NGOs on the distribution of help inside Gaza. Preliminary shipments will come through Cyprus, enabled by the U.S. navy and a coalition of companions and allies.
“This new important functionality will take numerous weeks to plan and execute. The forces that shall be required to finish this mission are both already within the area or will start to maneuver there quickly.
“We stay up for working with our shut companions and allies in Europe, the Center East, and past to construct a coalition of nations that may contribute capabilities and funding for this initiative.
“This effort builds on the Amalthea initiative proposed by Cyprus, which supplies a platform on the port of Larnaca for the transloading of help and screening by Israeli officers of Gaza-bound items.
“Whereas our navy will lead this effort within the first occasion, we stay up for the port transitioning to a commercially operated facility over time.”
Requested whether or not this might require American boots on the bottom on the Gaza coast, the senior official stated:
“I don’t wish to get forward of the planning when it comes to this operation. You already know, and I’m positive we’ll have additional particulars to share with our DOD colleagues quickly. However we aren’t planning for this to be an operation that might require U.S. boots on the bottom. However points when it comes to the dates, the timelines, et cetera, these are all issues that we’re working by as a result of they require contributions from our companions, from the humanitarian group and others, to be sure that this complete pipeline works successfully.”
In reply to the same query, a senior protection official stated: “Yeah, I can simply chime in and say that the idea that’s been deliberate includes the presence of U.S. navy personnel on navy vessels offshore however doesn’t require U.S. navy personnel to go ashore to put in the pier or causeway facility that may enable the transportation of humanitarian help ashore.”
- Learn the total transcript of the background briefing HERE
