President Joe Biden has arrived in Tel Aviv as tensions between Israel and Hamas have reached perhaps their highest point since this month’s war began.
Biden is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to affirm the United States’s solidarity with its biggest Middle Eastern ally and to prevent the conflict from spreading, a mission made more difficult by Tuesday’s strike on a Gaza hospital that killed at least 500 people and for which both Israel and Hamas blamed the other.
BIDEN SHIFTS FOCUS AWAY FROM DOMESTIC AFFAIRS AS ISRAEL WAR INTENSIFIES
WATCH: Joe Biden during Israel visit says hospital explosion appears to have been caused “by the other team,” and tells Netanyahu: “Americans are grieving with you and are worried.” pic.twitter.com/UQrGWb6HIy
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“I’m deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday, and based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said during his Israel visit next to Netanyahu.
“I’m looking forward to having a thorough discussion about where everybody goes from here,” he continued. “I want to say to the people of Israel: their courage, their commitment, their bravery is stunning, it’s really stunning. I’m proud to be here.”
In addition to meeting with Netanyahu and Israel’s defense leaders, Biden will speak with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as first responders and family members of the victims of Hamas’s brutal massacre on Israeli soil earlier this month, NSC spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One, per CNN.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Tel Aviv from Jordan ahead of Biden’s visit. Biden was scheduled to meet with the leaders of Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Egypt, but that meeting was postponed shortly after the hospital tragedy.
While firm in his support for Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas, Biden has also made clear his desire to allow critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. president has been criticized at home and abroad for his reaction to the Middle Eastern crisis, with some upset he has not shown enough solidarity with Israel and taken action against Iran, who they blame for Hamas’s attack, and others angry that he has not taken sufficient steps to protect Palestinians.
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All eyes are on the 46th U.S. president as he faces what could be a defining moment for his presidency, especially as he gears up for the 2024 election cycle with his critics up in arms about his priorities. He appears to recognize the magnitude of the moment.
“The world’s looking,” Biden said during his press conference with Netanyahu. “Israel has a value set like the United States does and other democracies, and they’re looking to see what we’re going to do.”
