US President Joe Biden said today in Tel Aviv, together with the Israeli Prime Minister, that the explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which killed hundreds, was the responsibility of Palestinian groups.
“Based on what I saw, it looks like it was done by the other party, and not by you”Biden said at a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after arriving in Israel.
Biden thus supported the version of the Israeli authorities, who attributed responsibility for the explosion in the Anglican Al Ahli hospital, in the north of the Gaza Strip, to Palestinian fighters on Tuesday.
The explosion killed at least 500 people, according to the Islamist group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.
Israel denied bombing the hospital and attributed the explosion to a misfire by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, which also blamed the Israeli army for the attack.
“I was deeply saddened and shocked by the explosion that occurred yesterday [terça-feira] in the Gaza hospital”Biden said to Netanyahu.
“We must also take into account that Hamas does not represent the entire Palestinian people and has only brought them suffering.”he added, quoted by French agency AFP.
Biden is expected to meet on October 7 with the families of the victims of the attack by Hamas commandos on Israeli territory, which Israel says left 1,400 dead.
‘Americans mourn with you’Biden said to Netanyahu.
Israel responded to the Hamas attack by bombing the Gaza Strip, killing more than 3,000 people, and threatening to invade the area to destroy the Islamist group.
Netanyahu believed that Biden’s visit in the midst of the war shows “his deep commitment to Israel, to the future of the Jewish people and to the Jewish State.”
“Just as the civilized world came together to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat the Islamic State, it must unite to defeat Hamas.”he declared, repeating a phrase he has used in dealings with other foreign leaders.
Biden was also scheduled to participate in a summit in Jordan with King Abdullah II and the presidents of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, and the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, but Amman canceled the summit after the hospital explosion.
Source: DN
