“We welcome this. At the same time I cannot but repeat - air and sea is not a substitute for land and nobody says otherwise,” Kaag told reporters earlier on Thursday after briefing the UN Security Council behind closed doors.

Although Israel is increasing the number of aid-bearing trucks allowed into Gaza and the United States and other countries have been airdropping supplies, the assistance getting in it still insufficient, one of the US officials said.

“We’re not waiting for the Israelis” to let in more aid, the official added. “This is a moment for American leadership.”

The temporary port would increase humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and officials there would work with UN and humanitarian aid organisations that “understand the distribution of assistance within Gaza,” the official said.

The operation would “take a number of weeks to plan and execute”, the official said, adding the required US forces are in the region or would soon begin moving there.

The operation would build on a Cypriot initiative that calls for gathering humanitarian aid in the island’s port city of Larnaca, 210 nautical miles from Gaza, officials have said.

Loading

That would permit Israeli officials to screen shipments before they head to Gaza.

While the temporary port will initially be military-run, Washington envisions it becoming a commercially run facility, the official said.

The would increase the amount of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the war-battered enclave by “hundreds of additional truckloads” per day, the official said, adding that the United States would coordinate security with Israel.

It also would work with the UN and humanitarian aid organisations that “understand the distribution of assistance within Gaza,” the official said.

Loading

Large swaths of Gaza have been destroyed and most of its population displaced by intense Israeli bombardments and fighting since the Hamas attack. Israel says Hamas’ incursion claimed 1200 lives and abducted 253 hostages.

In his speech, Biden said more than 30,000 Palestinians had been killed. “Most of whom are not Hamas,” he added. “Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children.”

Biden’s decision, amid UN warnings of widespread famine among the enclave’s 2.3 million Palestinians after nearly five months of fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas.

Senior administration officials who had briefed reporters on the plan before the speech also said Hamas was delaying a new deal with Israel on a six-week ceasefire and the release of hostages because the Islamists who rule Gaza have not agreed to free sick and elderly captives.

The deal “is on the table now and has been for more than the past week,” said an official, referring to stalled negotiations in Egypt, adding that the temporary ceasefire was needed “to bring immediate relief to the people of Gaza.”

Hamas blamed the stalemate on Israel’s rejection of its demands to end its offensive and withdraw its forces.

Biden last week first raised the idea of establishing a “marine corridor,” saying the US was working with allies on how it might provide assistance from the sea to those in Gaza.

General Erik Kurilla, head of US Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee, that he had briefed officials on such a maritime option.

Also on Thursday, the US conducted a third airdrop in the northern part of Gaza, where there is no Israeli presence. Kurilla said Central Command has provided options for increasing the number of trucks taking aid to those areas.

Five months of fighting between Israel and Hamas have left much of Hamas-run Gaza in ruins and led to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

Reuters, AP