Friday Briefing: A New Plan for Gaza Aid

President Biden is expected to announce during his State of the Union address that the U.S. military will build a floating pier off Gaza to let ships deliver food and other aid to Gazans, U.S. officials said.

Constructing the pier will involve hundreds or thousands of U.S. troops on ships just off shore, and will be built in cooperation with other countries in the region. It was unclear whether Israel would be joining the effort. Currently, aid can only enter Gaza through two land crossings in the south. Officials said yesterday that a third land crossing in the north could open soon.

Yet delivering aid by sea does not directly solve the central problem: Aid trucks have been unable to move freely amid intense Israeli shelling and ground fighting, which remains fierce in the South. Nor would it address the chaos that has accompanied the deliveries. An aid convoy was overrun by desperate Gazans last week, leading to more than 100 deaths when Israeli soldiers opened fire and many people were trampled in the chaos.

At the International Court of Justice: South Africa asked the U.N.’s highest court to issue emergency orders for Israel to stop what it called the “genocidal starvation” of Palestinians.

Negotiations: Hamas negotiators left Cairo yesterday without a breakthrough in talks over a cease-fire in Gaza, the group said. Hopes for an imminent truce with Israel continue to dim.