President Biden plunging into Middle East turmoil on visit to Israel
18 October 2023, 05:44
Israel has been preparing for a potential ground invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’ attacks.
US President Joe Biden will touch down in Israel on Wednesday for a diplomatic scramble to prevent the war with Hamas from spiralling into an even larger conflict.
The challenge became more difficult as outrage swept through the Middle East following an explosion which killed hundreds in a Gaza Strip hospital.
Mr Biden was scheduled to visit Jordan as well, but his meetings with Arab leaders were called off as he was leaving Washington, costing him an opportunity for the face-to-face conversations he views as crucial for navigating this fraught moment.
The president’s only stop will be Israel, where he’s expected to talk with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has been preparing for a potential ground invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’ attacks on October 7, which killed 1,400 Israelis.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One that Mr Biden “wants to get a sense from the Israelis on the situation on the ground” and will “ask some tough questions”.
“He’ll be asking them as a friend,” Mr Kirby said.
The president also planned to meet Israeli first responders and the families of those killed and hostages taken when Hamas made its incursion into Israel.
Roughly 2,800 Palestinians have been reported killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza. Another 1,200 people are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities said.
Those numbers predate the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital on Tuesday. No clear cause has been established for the blast.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said an Israeli airstrike caused the destruction but the Israeli military denied involvement and blamed a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group which also denied responsibility.
Mr Biden said in a statement that he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted.”
He also said he “directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened”.
Protests swept through the region after the deaths at the hospital, which had been treating wounded Palestinians and sheltering many more seeking a refuge from the fighting.
Hundreds of Palestinians flooded the streets of major West Bank cities including Ramallah. More people joined protests that erupted in Beirut, Lebanon and Amman, Jordan, where an angry crowd gathered outside the Israeli Embassy.
In Jordan, King Abdullah II had planned to host meetings with Mr Biden alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
But Mr Abbas withdrew in protest and the summit was cancelled outright.
Mr Kirby said Jordan had declared three days of mourning after the hospital explosion and Mr Biden understood the move and was part of a “mutual” decision to call off the Jordan portion of his trip.
He said Mr Biden would have an opportunity to speak to the Arab leaders by phone as he returned to Washington.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, told a state-run television network the war is “pushing the region to the brink.”
There are also fears that a new front could erupt along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah has been skirmishing with Israeli forces.
Mr Biden’s trip will test the limits of US influence in the Middle East at a volatile time. It is his second trip to a conflict zone this year, after visiting Ukraine in February.
The visit to Israel coincides with rising humanitarian concerns in Gaza, where Israel has cut off the flow of food, fuel and water.
Mediators have been struggling to break a deadlock over providing supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals.
