Via Teleconference
11:11 A.M. EST
MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining today's call to discuss humanitarian aid for Gaza ahead of the State of the Union.
As a reminder, this call is on background, attributable to senior administration officials, and it is embargoed until noon Eastern today.
For your awareness, not for your reporting, on the call today we have [senior administration official], [senior administration official], and [senior administration official].
With that, I'll turn it over to our speakers for a few words at the top, and then we'll go ahead to take your questions.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks. This is senior official number one.
Just very briefly, on — the President obviously will address, I think in a very personal way, the situation in the Middle East, which he's been dealing with really almost 24/7 here since October 7th. He'll talk about the horrific attacks of October 7th and Israel's right to go after Hamas and those responsible, but also Israel's added burden, just given that Hamas hides and operates amongst the civilian population — Israel's fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza and also to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
So one of the announcements tonight in the speech will be — and this builds on a number of things. You heard us talk last week about flooding the zone into Gaza, about making sure the crossings in the south are actually operational. David Satterfield talked about this last week, about the distribution network and security challenges in the south. We've been working with the Israelis to open a new crossing directly into north Gaza. The U.N. confirmed today they're working, hopefully over the coming days, for a pilot transport through that new crossing. We began the airdrops; we had another one today, which we can talk about a little bit on this call.
And importantly, tonight in the speech, the President will announce that he's directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a port in the Mediterranean, on the Gaza coast, that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters. And this is an initiative that will get underway here when the President makes the announcement and issues the orders. And we wanted to preview it on the call and address any questions you might have.
So, with that, I'll turn it over to senior official number two.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks very much. Just to go back to a little bit of the history of President Biden's involvement on the humanitarian access and delivery aspect of the conflict in Gaza: You know, really since the beginning of the conflict, President Biden has been leading efforts to get lifesaving humanitarian aid into Gaza to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas.
And early on, President Biden pushed relentlessly and made significant progress in terms of humanitarian access in Gaza, engaging personally to get agreement from the leaders of Israel and Egypt to cooperate on the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.
Before the President's engagement in this area, there was no food, water, or medicine getting into Gaza. And the President's visit to Israel and his hands-on diplomacy with the leaders of Israel and Egypt secured the opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
In December, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan traveled to Israel and secured the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing, which has allowed additional aid to enter Gaza from southern Israel.
And the United States, as I think is known well, is the largest provider of aid to the Gaza response, and thus far we have provided more than $180 million in assistance since October 7th.
Responding to the humanitarian crisis and the needs of the Palestinian people has been a priority since day one, and it remains one today. But the truth is, we know that the aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere near enough and nowhere near fast enough. The President will make clear again this evening that we all need to do more and that the United States is doing more, and we are seeking to use every channel possible to get additional assistance into Gaza.
We continue to work to increase the amount of aid flowing through existing border crossings at Rafah and Kerem Shalom. And over recent days, at our request, the government of Israel has prepared a new land crossing directly into northern Gaza. This third crossing will allow for aid to flow directly to the population in northern Gaza that is in dire need of assistance.
As the U.N. confirmed today, we expect the first delivery to transit this crossing over the coming week, starting with a pilot and then ramping up.
The government of Israel is also increasing the capacity of the direct land route from Jordan to Kerem Shalom, a route that has thus far seen around 48 trucks per week. We should soon see 50 or more trucks per day going across.
But we're not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for American leadership, and we are building a coalition of countries to address this urgent need.
Last week, President Biden announced that we would carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza. Since then, the Department of Defense has carried out three airdrops that include 192 bundles containing 112,896 meals, which include this morning's airdrop operations that occurred in northern Gaza. And we have more airdrops planned for the coming days.
Additionally, we continue to coordinate with international partners, including Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. This morning, their airdrops added a cumulative total of 28,000 meals on top of CENTCOM's airdrops to Gaza. Importantly, this is part of a sustained effort. More aid is coming.
And as the President previewed last week, the United States is taking the lead in activating a maritime corridor to allow assistance to flow by sea directly into Gaza as part of our sustained effort to increase aid flows coming into Gaza by land, air, and sea.
So, tonight, the President will announce in his State of the Union Address that he has directed the U.S. military to undertake an emergency mission to establish a port in Gaza, working in partnership with likeminded countries and humanitarian partners.
This port, the main feature of which is a temporary pier, will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day. We will coordinate with the Israelis on the security requirements on land, and work with the U.N. and humanitarian NGOs on the distribution of assistance within Gaza. Initial shipments will come via Cyprus, enabled by the U.S. military and a coalition of partners and allies.
This new significant capability will take a number of weeks to plan and execute. The forces that will be required to complete this mission are either already in the region or will begin to move there soon.
We look forward to working with our close partners and allies in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond to build a coalition of countries that will contribute capabilities and funding for this initiative.
This effort builds on the Amalthea initiative proposed by Cyprus, which provides a platform at the port of Larnaca for the transloading of assistance and screening by Israeli officials of Gaza-bound goods.
While our military will lead this effort in the first instance, we look forward to the port transitioning to a commercially operated facility over time.
Now, to conclude, I just wanted to say that to really address the urgent needs of the civilian population in Gaza and to enable humanitarian partners to safely distribute lifesaving aid throughout Gaza at the scale that is needed, it is essential that we see a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
The path to a ceasefire is straightforward. There could be at least a six-week ceasefire today if Hamas would agree to release a defined category of vulnerable hostages, including women, elderly, sick, and the wounded. That deal is on the table now and has been for more than the past week.
It would bring immediate relief to the people of Gaza. It would also create the conditions needed to enable the urgent humanitarian work that must be done. The onus right now is on Hamas.
And with that, I'll turn to the next speaker.
MODERATOR: Thank you. I think we're now ready for questions. If you'd like to ask a question, please use the "Raise Your Hand" feature, and our senior administration officials and senior Defense official will answer your questions.
Let's get started with Aamer Madhani. You should be able to unmute yourself.
Q Hi there. So will this require American boots on the ground on the Gaza coast?
And then secondly, I think speaker number two said weeks for preparation. If you could provide any more — I guess more precise detail on if you have sort of a benchmark date for this port to be up and open.
And then thirdly, if you guys can also just — you know, there's been — does the White House see it as a problem, one that it has to fly past its closest ally and now build a port? I think Robert Ford, the longtime diplomat, called it an "absurdity" that the U.S. military has to deliver aid into a territory controlled by an ally.
Can you guys also just speak to this dynamic that's established and what it says and how it complicates the administration's case of continuing robust assistance for Israel? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, happy to.
On the last point, I will just say that we have and will continue to press Israel to allow more aid into Gaza by land. We believe that land routes — we have long believed that land routes can be the most efficient, cost-effective way to get assistance in.
But we have decided that we — and the President has directed that we look at all options, that we not wait for the Israelis, and that we are pursuing every channel possible to get assistance into Gaza. So we will do it by air, by sea, by land — however we can get the maximum amount in possible.
