A US plan for a temporary port off Gaza to bring in aid is a cynical play for a US audience and will not avert mass starvation, a UN rights expert said.

Announcing the initiative in his annual State of the Union address yesterday, US President Joe Biden pleaded with Israel to let more aid into the blockaded territory.

He also defended Israel’s military operation against Palestinian group Hamas. “A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting in Gaza,” Biden told Congress.

But Michael Fakhri, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, dismissed the measure.

“No-one has asked for a maritime pier — not the Palestinian people, not the humanitarian aid community,” he told a briefing in Geneva, AFP reports.