President Joe Biden will inform Congress during his State of the Union address that he has instructed the US military to create a port in Gaza.
This initiative aims to facilitate the entry of additional humanitarian aid into the distressed region via sea.
A senior administration official revealed this critical decision, highlighting the urgent nature of the mission.
Hopes dimmed on Thursday for a truce before Ramadan in the Israel-Hamas war that entered its sixth month with dozens more killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The ministry said 83 more people had been killed over the previous day, adding to a toll it says has reached 30,800, mostly women and children, in a war that China called “a disgrace to civilization”.
In the wasteland of Jabalia, northern Gaza, Palestinians gathered to receive meals at a distribution point.
“There is no gas to cook our food on. There is no flour or rice,” said Bassam al-Hou, standing beside large, blackened cooking pots among the dusty rubble.
He said children “are dying and fainting in the streets from hunger. What can we do?”
Fighting began after an unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombardment, alongside a ground offensive, that Hamas authorities on Thursday said had continued with more than 30 air strikes across the territory.
In Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, the bodies of about 14 people lay in front of a hospital. The bare feet of some protruded from under coloured cloths that covered them.
US President Joe Biden had urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, as early as Sunday depending on the lunar calendar.
