During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden suggested that the United States should build a floating pier to help deliver aid in Gaza.

Yet while Biden insisted that the plan wouldn't involve putting American troops on the ground, Pentagon sources say it could still put them at risk of being bombed. 

Plan would involve two potential options

According to NBC News, the plan involves constructing a dock several miles off shore where supplies would be offloaded from civilian ships.

From there, the supplies would be transferred off the dock onto U.S. military craft carrying trucks which would then get ferried to a temporary pier connected with the shore.

The Biden administration doesn’t want to risk having U.S. troops deliver humanitarian aid from a floating dock.

But an alternate plan to use drivers and guards from other nations poses security risks too, officials say. https://t.co/JoT2lNITLO

— NBC News World (@NBCNewsWorld) March 23, 2024

NBC News reported that the White House is looking at a pair of options to make the process work. One involves using private contractors or foreign troops who would drive the trucks from the pier to aid distribution points.

Jake Sullivan claims IDF would be responsible for security

However, this plan could put U.S. troops at risk when the trucks are returned to the pier, with one military official stating, "Someone could tuck a bomb on a truck with a timer or remote detonator and cause a catastrophe."

The second plan would see American personnel drive the trucks off the pier and then unload them within a security perimeter established by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

"It will be IDF assets who actually secure it so that there are no U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza," NBC News quoted National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan as saying at a press briefing last week.

However, the sources NBC News spoke with explained that such an approach would carry significant logistical concerns when it comes to coordinating the effort.

House Republican says Biden wants to "appease a faction" of his party

Biden's suggestion of constructing a temporary pier in Gaza has received significant criticism from House Republicans, including Georgia Rep. Austin Scott.

"It is clearly putting our troops in harm's way," Scott told Fox News. "[Biden] doesn't seem to understand their hatred for the American soldiers, sailors and airmen and Marines, and if he puts them within range of Iranian proxies’ rockets, then Iranians proxy rockets are going to be flying at our people."

"I think it's got more to do with his politics and trying to appease a faction of the Democratic Party," the conservative lawmaker went on to add.