LAST UPDATE | 18 Oct 2023
US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has said it appears the explosion at a hospital in Gaza yesterday appears to be a result of a “rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza”.
He arrived in Israel for a diplomatic bid to prevent the war with Hamas from spiralling into an even larger conflict.
The challenge he faces became more difficult as outrage swept through the Middle East over an explosion that killed hundreds in the Gaza Strip hospital.
“I was 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,” he said as he opened a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
“But there’s a lot of people out there not sure so we have to overcome a lot of things.”
Speaking at a news conference this afternoon Biden said: “Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well. We mourn the loss of innocent Palestinian lives like the entire world.
“I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in Gaza. Based on the information we’ve seen today, that appears a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.”
The President said the US “unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict and I grieve, I truly grieve, for the families who are killed or wounded by this tragedy”.
Biden was originally 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.
Now his only stop is Tel Aviv.
Biden told the press conference this afternoon that the US is ”pursuing every avenue to bring home” the hostages being held by Hamas.
The US President also said: “Israel, you are not alone. The United States stands with you.”
Biden said that Israel has “agreed the humanitarian assistance can begin to move from Egypt to Gaza”, adding that the United States was working with partners to get “trucks moving across the border as soon as possible”.
Netanyahu’s office announced this afternoon that Israel would let aid enter Gaza via Egypt, saying only “food, water and medicine” would be allowed into the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
“In light of (US) President (Joe) Biden’s demand, Israel would not foil the supply of humanitarian aid via Egypt,” the prime minister’s office said, announcing a cabinet decision.
The statement noted that aid to civilians in the southern Gaza Strip would be allowed “so long as these supplies do not reach Hamas” which rules Gaza.
During the press conference, Biden cautioned Israelis not to be blinded by rage after suffering their deadliest ever attack, warning that the United States made mistakes after 9/11.
“I caution this while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice we also made mistakes,” Biden said on a visit to Tel Aviv.
While he visited the country, the US Treasury announced sanctions on 10 members, operatives and financial facilitators of Hamas.
The new sanctions target individuals based in Gaza and elsewhere, including Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and Qatar, the department said in a statement.
Among the individuals are six people associated with a Hamas “secret investment portfolio.”
They include Musa Muhammad Salim Dudin, a member of Hamas’s Political Bureau; as well as Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Mohamed Khair, a Sudan-based Hamas financier.
Two “senior Hamas officials,” were targeted: Muhammad Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah based in Qatar and Ayman Nofal, who was allegedly killed in an airstrike on Tuesday, the Treasury said.
The department also took aim at a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange, alongside its operator.
As a result of the sanctions, property of designated individuals in the US must be blocked and reported, alongside other restrictions. Financial institutions engaging in certain transactions with sanctioned entities or individuals could also expose themselves to enforcement action.
Israel has been preparing for a potential ground invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October, which killed 1,400 Israelis.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on board Air Force One that 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,” Kirby added.
After meeting Netanyahu’s war cabinet in Tel Aviv, Biden said: “We will continue to have your back. As you work to defend your people, we will continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy to innocent civilians.”
The president’s agenda also includes meeting Israeli first responders and the families of victims killed and hostages taken when Hamas made its incursion into Israel.
Hamas has slammed the US for its support for Israel, accusing it of being complicit in the ongoing strikes on Gaza.
“The continued endorsement of the Zionist narrative by the US administration makes it complicit in the occupation’s massacres and the Baptist hospital massacre in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.
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 pre-date 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 air strike caused the destruction. The Israeli military denies involvement and blamed a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group. However, that organisation also rejected responsibility.
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 who were 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.
Outrage over the hospital explosion scuttled Biden’s plans to visit Jordan, where King Abdullah II had planned to host meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But Abbas withdrew in protest, and the summit was subsequently cancelled outright.
Kirby said Jordan declared three days of mourning after the hospital explosion and that Biden understood the move and was part of a “mutual” decision to call off the Jordan portion of his trip.
Additional reporting by AFP
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