US President Joe Biden has expressed his condolences and concern regarding the tragic blast at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital during his visit to Israel. The explosion, which occurred on Tuesday evening, has been a focal point of contention between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
Upon his arrival in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, President Biden publicly acknowledged his deep sorrow and condemnation of the incident. While supporting Israel’s claim that the explosion was caused by a failed Palestinian rocket launch, Biden stressed the need for a thorough investigation to ascertain the precise cause.
However, conflicting reports from Palestinian officials have alleged that the hospital blast was struck by an Israeli air raid, leading to the intensification of tensions in the already volatile region.
The death toll from the blast remains unconfirmed, with Gaza health officials reporting nearly 500 casualties, emphasizing the urgency of comprehensive assessment and aid efforts.
President Biden’s diplomatic mission, intended to foster stability and peace in the region, has been overshadowed by the tragic event, prompting widespread protests and escalating concerns regarding the fragile state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Following his arrival, Biden was warmly received by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the two leaders later conducted a joint news conference, discussing measures to address the escalating tensions and reaffirming their commitment to ongoing peace negotiations.
“I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” Mr Biden said.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” he told Mr Netanyahu. “But there’s a lot of people out there not sure so we have to overcome a lot of things.”
Later, reporters inquired about the reasoning behind President Biden’s conclusion that Israel was not accountable for the incident. He responded by stating: “The data I was shown by my defence department.”
During the press briefing, he reaffirmed his backing for Israel and denounced the Palestinian militant faction Hamas, responsible for an unprecedented assault on Israel from Gaza on October 7th, resulting in 1,400 casualties.
According to reports from Palestinian health officials, a minimum of 3,000 individuals have lost their lives in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
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Originally, Mr. Biden intended to proceed from Israel to Jordan for meetings with King Abdullah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. However, this segment of the trip was called off following the tragic hospital explosion on Tuesday.
Jordan cancelled the meeting and condemned what it called “a great calamity and a heinous war crime”. The White House, meanwhile, said the decision had been “made in a mutual way” and Mr Biden would call Mr Abbas and Mr Sisi on his return flight to the US.
Later on Wednesday, the US president engaged in discussions with the Israeli war cabinet.
Subsequent to this dialogue, he declared that a consensus had been achieved to permit the transit of humanitarian assistance from Egypt into Gaza “based on understanding that there will be inspections, and aid should go to civilians, not to Hamas”.
The agreement, confirmed by the Israeli prime minister’s office, was stated to have been made “following President Biden’s request.” The timeline for the commencement of aid delivery to Gaza remains uncertain.
Additionally, President Biden announced an allocation of $100 million (£82 million) in US funding to assist Palestinian civilians. Increasing concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have surfaced, with shortages of food, water, and medicine becoming more pronounced in recent days.
Officials in Gaza, under the governance of Hamas, have reported that 500 individuals perished in the hospital explosion on Tuesday, which a doctor described as “a massacre”.
Hamas blamed Israel, calling it a “war crime”. A spokesperson for Mr Abbas, who is based in the occupied West Bank, accused Israel of a “heinous crime”.
However, the Israeli military presented evidence indicating that its forces were not responsible for the explosion, attributing it instead to rockets misfired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“According to our intelligence, Hamas checked the reports, understood it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that had misfired – and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened,” spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a briefing on Tuesday. “They went as far as inflating the number of casualties.”
