Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Alamy Stock Photo
israel-hamas war
Jordan summit with Joe Biden cancelled following Gaza hospital blast
Biden was due to discuss humanitarian aid with Arab leaders in Jordan after meeting with officials in Israel.
6.47am, 17 Oct 2023
23.9k
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.
Advertisement
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”.
Pope Francis's remains to be removed to St Peter's tomorrow ahead of funeral
Updated
9 hrs ago
26.8k
106
Lying in state
Irish-born Cardinal to oversee transfer of Pope Francis’s remains to St Peter’s Basilica
3 hrs ago
1.3k
5
Weather Forecast
Joanna Donnelly surprises viewers with departure from RTÉ News after nearly a decade
19 hrs ago
137k
46
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 175 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 117 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 155 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 121 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 87 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 88 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 42 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 143 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 67 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 83 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 90 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 52 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 28 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 107 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 76 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 57 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 96 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 77 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say