Katie Couric Instagram – 🚨President Biden will announce in his State of the Union on Thursday that he is ordering the U.S. military to build a floating pier off Gaza, in what the White House called an “emergency mission” that would allow hundreds of truckloads of additional aid to be delivered by sea to Gazans who are on the brink of starvation, per @nytimes reporting. The project will take several weeks, involving hundreds or thousands of U.S. troops on ships just off shore, in keeping with Mr. Biden’s mandate that no American soldiers be on the ground inside Gaza as the conflict rages. Briefing reporters, administration officials said that the port would be constructed in cooperation with other countries in the region, but it was unclear whether Israel would be joining the effort. The new project gives Mr. Biden a concrete project to point to in Thursday night’s State of the Union Address at a time that he is under sharp criticism for not reining in Israel’s attacks, and moving too slowly to address the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. The new seaport, when completed, would be an additional route for humanitarian aid, which is currently limited to two land crossings into the southern part of Gaza. Officials said Thursday that a third land crossing, into the northern part of Gaza, could open to limited deliveries within a week. Mr. Biden also recently ordered the U.S. military to drop aid into Gaza by air. American pilots dropped their fourth load into the territory on Thursday. This is a developing story with updates to come.