ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Oct 17 (Portal) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Israeli leaders during a trip to the Middle East, which was marked on Tuesday by an attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians were turned on their head, asking “hard questions” was killed.
Biden is flying to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and show U.S. support after an attack on Israeli villages and military bases by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip that killed hundreds of people on October 7.
After his meetings in Israel, Biden had planned to travel to Jordan for meetings with Arab leaders, but that stop was canceled following the attack on the hospital, which Palestinian officials blamed on Israel and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.
Biden will meet with Netanyahu and the Israeli War Cabinet and get an understanding of Israel’s plans and goals in the coming days and weeks, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One during the flight to Tel Aviv.
“He’s going to ask some tough questions, he’s going to ask them as a friend, as a true friend of Israel, but he’s going to ask them some questions,” Kirby said.
Israel is expected to launch a ground offensive in Gaza; The United States has urged the Israelis to allow humanitarian aid to help civilians.
Kirby declined to specify the types of questions Biden planned to ask beyond “what their plans are going forward.”
Biden will also meet with Israeli first responders and families of those who lost loved ones or whose family members were taken hostage in the bloody Hamas attack.
Biden will also make public remarks during his visit.
However, the trip could be overshadowed by the hospital explosion.
[1/4]U.S. President Joe Biden leaves Joint Base Andrews for a key visit to Israel in Maryland, U.S., October 17, 2023. Portal/Evelyn Hockstein LICENSES
Gaza authorities claim Israel’s military is responsible for the bombing; Israeli authorities denied involvement in the attack, which came during a massive Israeli bombing of the enclave in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Biden left Washington on Tuesday for what was described as a complex diplomatic mission aimed at showing support for longtime U.S. ally Israel, calming the region and supporting humanitarian efforts for Gaza.
It was unclear what he could accomplish after the hospital strike, conflicting accounts of accountability and the cancellation of the Jordan summit.
“This type of dark but terrible event complicates diplomacy and increases the risk of escalation,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group.
“Biden’s visit should underline that the US has the situation under control. A tragic incident like this shows how difficult it is to keep war under control.”
Biden was originally scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and then fly to Amman to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Failure to meet with Abbas or a Palestinian official while meeting Israelis on their soil could undermine Biden’s diplomatic message and draw critics at home and abroad. The US relies heavily on Egypt to help with humanitarian efforts.
After the hospital explosion, Biden’s previous efforts in the Israel-Hamas war were criticized by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress.
“This is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire and contribute to de-escalation. “Your approach, which relies only on war and destruction, has been eye-opening for me and many Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans like me,” said Tlaib, a Democrat who had previously been silent in her criticism of Biden’s policies, one post said on the social media platform X.
More than 70 religious and activist groups, led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest U.S. Muslim civil rights group, called on Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during his visit.
(This story has been corrected to clarify that Israel blames Islamic Jihad, not Hamas, in paragraph 3.)
Reporting by Steve Holland, Michelle Nichols, Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason; Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates
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