WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will announce a plan Thursday for the US military to help establish a temporary port on the Gaza coast to increase the flow of aid into the territory during the Israel-Hamas war, according to senior administration officials.
The announcement comes amid a widening humanitarian crisis across Gaza that has forced many people to scramble for food to survive and begun leading to deaths from malnutrition.
Hopes for reaching a ceasefire before the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in the coming days, stalled Thursday when Hamas said its delegation had left Cairo, where talks on a deal were being held. The outline for the ceasefire would have including a wide infusion of aid into Gaza.
Aid groups have said their efforts to deliver desperately needed supplies to Gaza have been badly hampered because of the difficulty of coordinating with the Israeli military, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order. It is even more difficult to get aid to the isolated north.
The US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Biden’s announcement before his State of the Union speech, said the planned operation will not require American troops on the ground to build the pier that is intended to allow more shipments of food, medicine and other essential items.
The officials did not provide details about how the pier would be built. One noted that the US military has “unique capabilities” and can do things from “just offshore.” They said it would likely take weeks before the pier was operational.
The port will allow shipments to flow into Gaza via Cyprus from the US military and allies, the administration officials said.
The move provides one more layer to the extraordinary dynamic that’s emerged as the United States has had to go around Israel, its main Mideast ally, and find ways to get aid into Gaza, including through airdrops that started last week.
Pressure on Israel to establish a sea route for aid has been growing in recent days. European Union Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen planned to visit Cyprus on Friday to inspect installations at the port of Larnaca, from where aid is expected to leave for Gaza if a sea route is established. Israeli officials said Wednesday the country would cooperate with the creation of a sea route from Cyprus, an idea that’s been under discussion for months.
American Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of US Central Command, told the US Senate Armed Services Committee that he had briefed officials on such a maritime option. Kurilla said Central Command has provided options for increasing the number of trucks taking aid to areas in northern Gaza.
International mediators had hoped to alleviate some of the immediate crisis with a six-week ceasefire, which would have seen Hamas release some of the Israeli hostages it is holding, Israel release some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups be given access to to get a major influx of assistance into Gaza.
Palestinian militants are believed to be holding around 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war.
Egyptian officials said Hamas has agreed to the main terms of such an agreement as a first stage but wants commitments that it will lead to an eventual more permanent ceasefire. They say Israel wants to confine the negotiations to the more limited agreement.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations with media. Both officials said mediators are still pressing the two parties to soften their positions.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said Israel “refuses to commit to and give guarantees regarding the ceasefire, the return of the displaced, and withdrawal from the areas of its incursion.” But he said the talks were still ongoing and would resume next week. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Mediators had looked to Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Sunday, as an informal deadline for a deal because the month of dawn-to-dusk fasting often sees Israeli-Palestinian violence linked to access to a major Jerusalem holy site. The war already has the wider region on edge, with Iran-backed groups trading fire with Israel and the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly ruled out Hamas’ demands for an end to the war, saying Israel intends to resume the offensive after any ceasefire, expand it to the crowded southern city of Rafah and battle on until “total victory.” He has said military pressure will help bring about the release of the hostages.
“The (Israeli military) will continue to operate against all Hamas battalions all over the strip — and this includes Rafah, the last stronghold of Hamas,” Netanyahu said at a combat officers’ graduation ceremony Friday. “Whoever tells us not to operate in Rafah tell us to lose the war. And that will not happen.”
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured another 250 when they stormed across the border on Oct. 7. Over 100 hostages were released in a ceasefire deal last year.
Israel launched a massive air, land and sea campaign in Gaza that has driven some 80 percent of the population from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 30,717 Palestinians have been killed. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies but says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and its casualty figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the UN and independent experts.
Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters, without providing evidence. It blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because its fighters operate in dense, residential neighborhoods.
Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is particularly dire in the north, where many of the estimated 300,000 people still living there have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive. The UN says one in six children younger than 2 in the north suffers from acute malnutrition.
Biden will announce a plan for a temporary port for aid on Gaza’s coast as ceasefire talks stall
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Biden will announce a plan for a temporary port for aid on Gaza’s coast as ceasefire talks stall

- Project won’t require US troops on the ground to build a pier intended to facilitate critical aid shipments
Algeria protests France’s detention of Algerian consular agent

- Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, but took a turn for the worse last July when French President Emmanuel Macron angered Algeria by recognizing a plan for the autonomy of the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty
TUNIS: Algeria protested on Saturday against France’s detention of an Algerian consular agent over an alleged kidnapping of an Algerian citizen in France, the latest tension between the two countries.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said that this unprecedented judicial turn, in the history of two countries’ relations, was aimed at disrupting the process of reviving bilateral relations.
French media reported that three people, including an Algerian consular official, were placed under investigation on Friday on suspicion of kidnapping Amir Boukhors, an opponent of the Algerian regime.
Algeria said that “the new, unacceptable, and unjustified development will severely damage Algerian-French relations and affirms its determination not to leave this case without consequences.”
The North Africa country described Boukhors as “a saboteur linked to terrorist groups.”
Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, but took a turn for the worse last July when French President Emmanuel Macron angered Algeria by recognizing a plan for the autonomy of the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.
Last month, an Algerian court sentenced French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal to five years in jail for undermining national unity, prompting a call for his freedom from Macron.
But French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said last week that ties with Algeria were back to normal after he held talks with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune following months of bickering that have hurt Paris’ economic and security interests in its former colony.
Syrian forces deploy at key dam under deal with Kurds

- Syria’s state news agency SANA reported “the entry of Syrian Arab Army forces and security forces into the Tishrin Dam ... to impose security in the region, under the agreement reached with the SDF”
DAMASCUS: Security forces from the new government in Damascus deployed on Saturday around a strategic dam in northern Syria, under a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration, state media reported.
Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces will pull back from the dam, which they captured from Daesh in late 2015.
The Tishrin dam near Manbij in Aleppo province is one of several on the Euphrates and its tributaries in the Syrian Arab Republic.
It plays a key role in the nation’s economy by providing water for irrigation and hydro-electric power.
On Thursday, a Kurdish source said the Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria had reached an agreement with the central government on running the dam.
A separate Kurdish source said on Saturday that the deal, supervised by the US-led anti-terror coalition, stipulates that the dam remain under Kurdish civilian administration.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported “the entry of Syrian Arab Army forces and security forces into the Tishrin Dam ... to impose security in the region, under the agreement reached with the SDF.”
The accord also calls for a joint military force to protect the dam and for the withdrawal of factions “that seek to disrupt this agreement,” SANA said.
It is part of a broader agreement reached in mid-March between Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, aiming to integrate the institutions of the Kurdish autonomous administration into the national government.
The dam was a key battleground in Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011, falling to Daesh before being captured by the SDF.
Days after Al-Sharaa’s coalition overthrew Syrian leader Bashar Assad in December, Turkish drone strikes targeted the dam, killing dozens of civilians and Kurdish officials, as Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Hamas releases video showing Israeli-American hostage alive

- Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the hostage as Edan Alexander
- Alexander, a soldier in the Israeli army, said on the video that he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing an Israeli-American hostage alive, in which he criticizes the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified him as Edan Alexander, a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian militants during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
AFP was unable to determine when the video was filmed.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, published the more than three-minute clip showing the hostage seated in a small, enclosed space.
In the video, he says he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays.
Israel is currently marking Passover, the holiday that commemorates the biblical liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army.
“As we begin the holiday evening in the USA, our family in Israel is preparing to sit around the Seder table,” Alexander’s family said in a statement released by the forum.
“Our Edan, a lone soldier who immigrated to Israel and enlisted in the Golani Brigade to defend the country and its citizens, is still being held captive by Hamas.
“When you sit down to mark Passover, remember that this is not a holiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other hostages are not home,” the family added.
The family did not give a green light for the media to broadcast the footage.
Alexander appears to be speaking under duress in the video, making frequent hand gestures as he criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for failing to secure his release.
The video was released hours after Defense Minister Israel Katz announced military control of what it called the new “Morag axis” corridor of land between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Katz also outlined plans to expand Israel’s ongoing offensive across much of the territory.
In a separate statement earlier Saturday, Hamas said Israel’s Gaza operations endangered not only Palestinian civilians but also the remaining hostages.
The offensive not only “kills defenseless civilians but also makes the fate of the occupation’s prisoners (hostages) uncertain,” Hamas said.
During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants took 251 hostages.
Fifty-eight hostages remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
During a recent ceasefire that ended on March 18 when Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza, militants released 33 hostages, among them eight bodies.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Gaza’s health ministry said Saturday at least 1,563 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,933.
UAE president meets with US Congressional delegation in Abu Dhabi to discuss ties and regional stability

- American delegation included Senator Joni Ernst and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
ABU DHABI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with a delegation from the US Congress at Qasr Al-Shati in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Emirates News Agency reported.
The American delegation included Senator Joni Ernst and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both prominent members of the US legislative branch.
The meeting focused on enhancing the strategic partnership between the two nations across a range of sectors and reaffirmed their commitment to advancing mutual interests for the benefit of both peoples.
Discussions covered key regional and international issues, particularly efforts to bolster security and stability in the Middle East.
Both sides emphasized the importance of continued collaboration to promote peace, development, and prosperity across the region and beyond.
The meeting was also attended by senior UAE officials and Yousef Al-Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador to the US.
Jordanian food manufacturers to showcase products at Saudi Food Manufacturing expo in Riyadh

- Three-day event will feature more than 550 international brands
AMMAN: Jordanian food manufacturing companies will take part in the Saudi Food Manufacturing 2025 exhibition, which opens on Sunday in Riyadh, Jordan News Agency reported.
Organized for the second time by the Jordan Exporters Association, the kingdom’s participation highlights efforts to boost national exports and explore new opportunities in one of the region’s most dynamic sectors, JNA added.
The three-day event will feature more than 550 international brands, with national pavilions representing countries such as France, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkiye, India, Switzerland, Spain, Pakistan, Egypt, China and Italy.
JEA Chairman Ahmed Khudari said that Jordan’s involvement in the exhibition is part of broader efforts to diversify export markets and keep pace with global advancements in food manufacturing technologies and innovations.
“This is a key opportunity for Jordanian companies to promote their products, forge international partnerships and explore new marketing avenues,” Khudari said in a statement on Saturday.
“The Saudi market is one of the most important destinations for Jordanian industrial exports, thanks to the strong bilateral relations and geographic proximity between the two kingdoms,” he added.
Khudari highlighted the significant progress made by the Jordanian industry in recent years, citing improvements in product quality and competitive pricing that have enabled exports to reach more than 150 markets globally.
He added that growing industrial exports play a pivotal role in driving economic development, attracting investment, generating employment and boosting the kingdom’s foreign currency reserves.
Khudari also urged Jordanian food manufacturers to capitalize on the exhibition’s expected high turnout of international exhibitors, brand owners, experts and traders.
The JEA’s participation is supported through collaboration with the Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry, as well as Export House, as part of a joint effort to strengthen Jordan’s presence in strategic international markets and expand the global footprint of its food manufacturing sector.