The US military will build a temporary port on the coast of Gaza to increase the flow of aid into the enclave.

Joe Biden, the US president, is expected to announce the plan in his State of the Union address on Thursday, according to officials in his administration.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement, said the operation will not require that American troops be on the ground to build the pier.

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”.

Five months of fighting between Israel and Hamas have left much of Hamas-run Gaza in ruins and led to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. Many Palestinians, especially in the devastated north, are scrambling for food to survive.

Aid groups have said it has become nearly impossible to deliver supplies within most of Gaza because of the difficulty of coordinating with the Israeli military, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

The US military recently began dropping aid into Gaza by air.