WASHINGTON, Mar. 8 (CNA) - President Joe Biden has ordered the US military to establish a temporary port in Gaza for aid deliveries, officials said on Thursday (Mar 7), as famine warnings multiplied after five months of war.
Hopes dimmed for a new truce between Israel and Hamas before the start of Ramadan after Hamas negotiators left talks with mediators in Egypt to consult with the movement's leadership in Qatar.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported 83 more people had been killed over the previous 24 hours, adding to a toll it says has reached 30,800, mostly women and children.
In the wasteland of Jabalia, northern Gaza, Palestinians gathered to receive meals at a distribution point.
"There is no gas to cook our food on. There is no flour or rice," said Bassam al-Hou, standing beside large, blackened cooking pots among the rubble.
He said children "are dying and fainting in the streets from hunger".
Biden was set to announce the aid harbour for Gaza in a keynote address to Congress later on Thursday, officials said, in a sign of the political pressure he is facing over his steadfast support for Israel despite the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
US officials acknowledged it would be a "number of weeks" before aid deliveries to the planned new port could begin, but said the administration would not "be waiting on the Israelis".
"We're not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for American leadership," one official told reporters, in a sign of growing White House frustration with Israel's failure to allow more relief into Gaza.
The officials underlined that the announcement will not involve any US boots on the ground, as military personnel will stay offshore while allies manage onshore operations.
"This port, the main feature of which is a temporary pier, will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day," a senior administration official told reporters.
US officials said the "significant capability will take a number of weeks to plan and execute," and would involve a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is expected in the Mediterranean island on Friday for talks on the planned corridor, which the Cyprus government has been pushing for months.
The war in Gaza began after an unprecedented Oct 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombardment, alongside a ground offensive, that Hamas on Thursday said had continued with more than 30 air strikes across the territory.
In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, around 14 bodies lay in front of a hospital, the bare feet of some protruding from under coloured cloths.
