Larger and smaller diplomatic initiatives are multiplying so that the war between Israel and Hamas does not become a conflict with more and more actors and that Palestinian citizens have access to essential goods and do not become victims of war crimes. For this purpose – and to reaffirm support for the Israelis – the American president is in the Middle East this Wednesday and Thursday. But hours after the terrorist organization published a video of a hostage, Israeli forces bombed positions in the southern Gaza Strip – where residents fled – and were accused of hitting a hospital in Gaza City, killing hundreds of people.
Announcing Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Jordan, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US president would focus on “the imperative need for humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza, and on the possibility that innocent people can get out.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been traveling between countries in the region – he will meet with Biden this Wednesday after eleven stops – said that the president’s presence in Tel Aviv has as its first objective “the reaffirmation of the solidarity of the United States with Israel” and “resolute commitment to its security.”
Moreover, it will also reiterate the “crystal clear message” of deterrence for other countries and organizations not to attack Israel. In parallel with the two aircraft carriers deployed to the eastern Mediterranean, the Pentagon notified another 2,000 troops to be on standby. During the meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Democrat – who had a slightly less than frosty relationship with the Israeli leader until September – will also discuss the issue of the 199 hostages that Hamas brought to Gaza following the attacks on Israel on the 7th. .
Last but not least, Biden “will hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and allows humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.” ”
One of the objectives of Biden’s visit is to deter other actors from becoming involved in the war between Israel and Hamas, but the hospital explosion has further inflamed tempers in the region.
It is the US president’s second trip to a country in conflict, after a visit to Ukraine in February. On this trip, however, Biden risks more, not so much from a personal safety perspective, but from a political one. If the visit is followed by the ground invasion of Gaza and the humanitarian corridor is not opened, it will be closely linked to disastrous human consequences.
His arrival follows an explosion at the al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as Al-Ma’amadani, which is run by the Anglicans of Jerusalem. Local authorities say at least 500 people have been killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike.
After clarifying that the hospitals are not Israeli military targets, Tel Aviv’s armed forces in turn said the deadly explosion at the hospital was caused by a defect in a rocket launched by Palestinian fighters. According to the Israeli version, Islamic Jihad launched a volley of rockets very close to the hospital when it was hit.
Later, the Israeli Prime Minister himself stated: “The whole world must know: it was the barbaric terrorists in Gaza who attacked the hospital,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Those who brutally murdered our children are also murdering their own,” Netanyahu said.
On one level or another, it is certain that tension after the news reached new heights. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was in Jordan, declared three days of mourning for the “massacre” and canceled Thursday’s meeting in Amman with Biden, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President al-Sisi.
Demonstrations against Abbas broke out in Rammalah, West Bank, with security forces responding to demonstrators’ stones with tear gas. In the Jordanian capital, dozens of people tried to storm the Israeli embassy, but police dispersed them.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah called for a “day of anger” on Wednesday.
The explosion – considered Israeli bombing – quickly drew condemnation from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League, Canada, as well as European Council President Charles Michel, who diplomatically said an attack on civilian infrastructure ‘is not in accordance with international law’.
Michel chaired a virtual European Council for a message to 27 on the conflict, one of many diplomatic initiatives, such as Chancellor Scholz’s visit to Israel, or the UN Secretary General’s trip to Cairo on Thursday to boost humanitarian aid to discuss Gaza.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli forces bombed a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Gaza Strip (UNRWA). The agency said at least six people were killed – the school housed at least four thousand people in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp. But airstrikes were also carried out on southern cities, Khan Yunis and Rafah, after Tel Aviv warned residents of northern Gaza to leave that part of the territory – and more than a million did so.
Source: DN
