President Biden, during his State of the Union address, announced an effort to create an aid corridor to Gaza that will include a U.S.–constructed pier for shipments of food and other supplies to reach Palestinians. This “temporary” construction would be a significant expansion of the Biden administration’s aid measures and no longer done at arm’s length, whatever promises of “no American boots on the ground” the president might make. As with all else, there are only tradeoffs. In this case, it’s almost all bad. The president’s design will create a locus of aid transfer that endangers American servicemen while failing to ensure the aid cannot be appropriated by Hamas.

The most recent efforts, air-dropping aid in collaboration with the Jordanian air force, resulted in a reported five Palestinian deaths (per Hamas-compromised Gaza Health Ministry) after a parachute failed to deploy correctly on one parcel. The pallet in question was not a U.S.-dropped aid parcel, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The White House’s proposed pier solution would endanger American lives, almost certainly experience mission creep that turns temporary into tem-permanent, and, because of Biden’s promise of “no boots” would require a third party to handle dissemination of supplies — Qatar has volunteered to bankroll much of it.