LAST UPDATE | 17 Oct 2023

US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has postponed his visit to Jordan after the deadly strike on a Gaza hospital and will only go to Israel on his Middle East trip, the White House has said.

The summit will be held “when the decision to stop the war and put an end to these massacres has been taken”, said Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

Biden was due to discuss humanitarian aid with Arab leaders in Jordan after meeting with officials in Israel.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had announced the trip to Israel while White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced earlier today that Biden would also go to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Biden’s schedule was announced before the Gazan Health Ministry this evening reported that at least 500 people have been killed in a hospital explosion it claims was caused by an Israeli air strike.

In protest at the reported strike on the hospital, President Abbas has cancelled his participation in the meeting scheduled with Biden and other Middle East leaders.

In a further development this evening, the Israel Defense Forces said that they believe the Islamic Jihad militant group is responsible for the hospital attack. 

“Intelligence from multiple sources we have in our hands indicates that Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza,” a statement said, referring to another Gaza-based militant group which has claimed to be fighting Israel alongside Hamas.

Jordan this evening confirmed the cancellation of the summit with Biden. 

The summit will be held “when the decision to stop the war and put an end to these massacres has been taken”, said Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

Biden decided after “consulting” with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and “in light of the days of mourning” announced by Abbas, the White House said in a statement.

“The president sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded,” the statement added.

Military support

Biden spoke by phone with Fattah el-Sisi, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday.

The US has pledged military support, sending carriers and aid to the region.

Officials have said they would ask Congress for upwards of $2 billion in additional aid for both Israel and Ukraine, which is fighting Russia’s invasion.

Blinken made the announcement after more than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.

He said the US and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to enable humanitarian aid from donor nations to reach civilians in Gaza “including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way”.

“We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise prevent it from reaching the people who need it,” he said.

Iran’s foreign minister has warned that “pre-emptive action is possible” if Israel moves closer to its looming ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Hossein Amirabdollahian, whose theocracy provides support to Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, told state television Israel cannot “do whatever it wants in Gaza and then go after other resistance groups after it’s done with Gaza”.

“Therefore any pre-emptive action is possible in the coming hours,” he said.

“If the limited and extremely tight windows of opportunity available to the United Nations and political actors are not used over the coming hours, opening new fronts against the Zionist regime is inevitable.”

The UN Security Council rejected a Russian resolution yesterday that condemned violence and terrorism against civilians but made no mention of Hamas.

Only four countries joined Russia in voting for the resolution. Four countries voted against it: the UK, US, France and Japan. Six countries abstained.

Britain’s UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said it would be “unconscionable for this council to ignore the largest terror attack in Israel’s history”.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia had urged support for the resolution to respond to the “unprecedented exacerbation” of the situation, citing the council’s inaction since the 7 October attack by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The UN’s most powerful body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has not taken a position on the Hamas assault or on Israel’s response.

The Russian draft resolution would have called for “an immediate, durable and fully respected humanitarian ceasefire ” and “strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism”.