President Joe Biden said his administration has been working to establish a six-week cease fire in the Israel-Hamas war that is now into its fifth month. During his third State of the Union address, he also announced that he directed the U.S. military to build a temporary pier on Gaza's coast to allow in much needed humanitarian aid.

“We've been working non-stop to establish immediate cease-fire that would last for at least six weeks. It would get the hostages home, ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis and build toward an enduring more something more enduring,” Biden said.

Since militant group Hamas on Oct. 7 led an attack into Israel that left over 1,200 dead and hundreds kidnapped, Israel has responded with a bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza that has left over 30,000 dead, at least 25,000 women and children, and caused a humanitarian crisis that has left much of the population without food and medicine.

Addressing Israeli leadership, Biden said "humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority."

Biden’s March 7 address comes as he seeks reelection against likely Republican nominee former President Donald Trump. It also comes five months into a deadly war on Gaza and just more than two years after Russia invaded Ukraine – both foreign wars that have tested his relationship with allies and Congress. This is Biden’s third State of the Union address and the last of this term.

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