7 Match 2024 (Lloyd's List) - THE US will establish a port on the Gaza coast to receive large ships carrying humanitarian aid.

US President Joe Biden will announce the decision in Thursday’s State of the Union address, according to several media reports.

The reports, citing US officials, said the move is in response to US frustration with Israel blocking road deliveries into the embattled coastal strip.

The port and temporary pier will be built by US military engineers from ships off the coast, who will not need to step ashore. Aid deliveries will be shipped from the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, where Israel can inspect them.

A US official told the Guardian newspaper the port would “provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day”.

“This new significant capability will take a number of weeks to plan and execute,” a senior official told the newspaper.

“The forces that will be required to complete this mission there are either already in the region or will begin to move there soon.”

Biden will also announce a new land crossing into the occupied Gaza Strip, reports said.