(Bloomberg) — President , in some of his first comments after arriving in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, suggested the Israeli military was not responsible for a deadly blast at a Gaza City hospital that left hundreds dead and spiked tensions across the Middle East.
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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 that appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden told Israeli Prime Minister .
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The trip has turned into one of the biggest tests of Biden’s presidency, as he seeks to contain the war between Israel and Hamas.
The two sides have traded accusations over the explosion, with Hamas blaming an Israeli air raid and Israel pointing to a video of what its military said was a malfunctioning rocket shot by Palestinian militants. Outrage over the incident led to the cancellation of a planned summit between Biden and Arab leaders following his visit to Israel.
The US president acknowledged skepticism across the Arab world in the aftermath of the explosion, saying there were “a lot of people out there” who doubted Israel’s account. He and Netanyahu had work to do to convince those who believed Israel was to blame, Biden said.
The White House had hoped the trip to the region could help in their push to secure additional humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians, aiming to convince other regional powers — including Iran — to avoid escalating the conflict. But instead the focus has largely concentrated on demonstrating support for Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas — which is categorized as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. That assault killed an estimated 1,400 people and saw at least around 200 taken hostage.
“For the people of Israel, there’s only one thing better than having a true friend like you standing with Israel, and that is having you standing in Israel,” Netanyahu said. “Your visit here is the first visit of an American president in Israel at a time of war.”
Later, the American president is expected to meet with Israeli victims’ families, including relatives of those being held hostage in Gaza. He is then scheduled to make public remarks on the conflict and confer with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Biden’s visit to Israel, which enjoys broad bipartisan support in the US, and to a war zone provides a clear political opportunity for the 80-year-old president, who has sought to combat concern over his age and competence by wielding US influence abroad.
“I wanted the people of Israel, people in the world, to know where the United States stands,” Biden said.
Yet Biden must balance that show of support with growing anger over the hospital explosion.
Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military responded to Hamas’s attack earlier this month with mass airstrikes. It’s widely expected to be planning a ground assault soon, with Netanyahu vowing to totally destroy Hamas as an organization.
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In response to the hospital explosion, the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, called off a summit with Biden that was meant to take place later on Wednesday. Jordan was going to host it in its capital, Amman.
Arab leaders, Turkey and Hamas blamed the blast on Israel. Israel’s military said Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad were responsible because a missile they fired malfunctioned and landed on Gazan territory.
The blast caused large protests around Israeli and American embassies across the Arab world, as well as in the West Bank.
US officials said Biden would speak by telephone with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi by telephone after leaving Israel.
Fears of Escalation
The episode and furious reaction threatened to draw other regional players into the conflict against Israel, dashing an initial goal of Biden’s trip.
Hamas is backed by Iran, as are some other militant groups in the region including Hezbollah. Tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, have soared in the past 10 days. Israeli troops and Hezbollah have regularly exchanged fire.
The US has pressed Egypt, without success to date, to allow some civilians, including US citizens, to pass from Gaza into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing. Egypt has responded by saying Israel should take in any people allowed to leave Gaza.
White House aides said that despite the heightened tensions, they remained optimistic that Biden could work with Israelis, Egyptians, and Palestinians to improve the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
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Before Biden’s trip was announced — and before the hospital explosion — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Netanyahu had agreed to jointly develop a plan to get aid into Gaza without benefiting Hamas, and to limit civilian casualties.
–With assistance from Adveith Nair.
(Updates throughout, including with Biden quote in tenth paragraph.)
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