During a brief visit on Wednesday, President Biden offered support to Israel and the Palestinians but promptly blamed Gaza militants for a horrific hospital explosion brought on by an errant rocket. He avoided raising conflict in dialogue while acknowledging the impending instability. Following a fire at the Al-Aqsa Al-Arabi hospital in Gaza, where 471 people were reportedly killed by Palestinian authorities, protesters held anti-Israel demonstrations late Tuesday voicing alarm over widespread unrest.
President Biden said of the hospital explosion, “From the information we have seen today, it appears to be the result of a misguided rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.”
President Biden was backed in Washington by the White House National Security Council, which claimed that intercepts, analysis of overhead photography, and open-source material.
Arab leaders cancelled a summit with President Biden in Jordan.
Arab officials reacted by postponing their meeting with Biden in Jordan and blamed Israel for the hospital fatalities. Insisting that the vast majority of Palestinians were not linked with Hamas, Biden pleaded with Israel to use caution.
Since October 7, 3,478 Palestinians have died and 12,065 have been injured in Israeli airstrikes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In order to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, Biden proposed new funding of $100 million.
President Biden emphasized, “Our distinction from terrorists lies in our unwavering belief in the inherent dignity of every human life. If that respect isn’t upheld, the terrorists win.”
He also declared his intention to lobby Congress this week for a “unprecedented” aid package for Israel on a trip that lasted less than eight hours, although no action can be taken until the House elects a new speaker.
President Biden was under extreme pressure to improve the miserable living circumstances for locals in crowded coastal areas and get Israel’s agreement to provide aid from Egypt to southern Gaza.
After Biden’s visit, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement reiterating that Israel would permit supplies of food, water, and medical care to enter southern Gaza via Egypt. Israel stated that it would withhold aid unless the approximately 200 prisoners taken in connection with attacks by Hamas on October 7 were freed.
Biden’s Middle East visit was intended to calm the area, but Jordan postponed his meeting with Egypt and the Palestinian government after the hospital explosion. Instead, it was expected that he would talk to them on the phone as he drove home.
Even by the standards of the previous 12 days, the hospital’s destruction was appalling and painted a constant picture of the world: first, Palestinian families were crushed by Israeli retaliation attacks, then Israeli homes were targeted by Hamas terrorists.
Rescue personnel looked for survivors among a scene covered in blood. Israel disputed the 471 fatalities listed by the Gaza Health Ministry. Rescuers were still collecting bodies, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A doctor at the hospital, Dr. Mohammad al-Naka, said, “We don’t know what this was, but we found out what it can do when it targeted children who had been amputated into pieces.” He claimed that it was a success when 3,000 individuals sought refuge there.
In response to attacks on Hamas strongholds, Israel had last week ordered the evacuation of over a million people from northern Gaza, forcing displaced Palestinians to deal with a humanitarian crisis. Three regional leaders stated that, in light of Israeli strategy, it was necessary to destroy Gaza’s basic infrastructure, even at the expense of large additional civilian lives.
Neighbors, the nations that Palestinian refugees may enter their territory has been rejected by Egypt and Jordan. Palestinian officials in the West Bank and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi denounced Israel’s forceful eviction of Gaza civilians. It was deemed a “red line” that could not be crossed by Palestinian officials.
In public declarations, world leaders from Russian President Vladimir Putin to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the Gaza hospital explosion but did not place blame.