Biden throws full support behind Israel, blames ‘other team’ for hospital blast

(CN) — In a major diplomatic gamble, U.S. President Joe Biden stirred more tensions in the Middle East with a trip to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to show unflinching support for Israel, even as it carries out massive bombing of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a horrific attack by Hamas.

Biden's trip was overshadowed by a strike on a Gaza hospital Tuesday evening that left hundreds of people killed, sparking widespread anger and protests in the Middle East and raising fears in Europe of terrorist attacks.

Israel and Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, blamed each other for the hospital strike with both sides presenting as yet unconvincing evidence. On Wednesday, authorities in Gaza said 471 people were killed in the blast at the al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital.

In a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden expressed full support for Israel and sided with Israel's version of what happened in the hospital explosion, which he said had made him “deeply saddened and outraged.”

“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said, sitting next to Netanyahu. “But there’s a lot of people out there not sure, so we’ve got to overcome a lot of things.”

The Israeli military contends a faulty rocket launched by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, landed on the hospital. Hamas and Islamic Jihad said an Israeli missile was to blame.

The horrific scenes from the Gaza hospital fueled even more anger and protests across the Middle East and caused Jordan's King Abdullah II to cancel a summit in Amman on Wednesday with Biden. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also were due to meet Biden in Amman.

Biden and the Arab leaders were slated to talk about ending the war and finding solutions to the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Washington is trying to convince Egypt to open its border to people trapped in Gaza, but el-Sisi is reluctant to do that because he could come under criticism from other Arab nations and set in motion the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula, which is part of Egypt.

Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, told a state-run television network that the war is “pushing the region to the brink.”

China and Russia, meanwhile, are pushing their own diplomatic talks with Arab leaders in an effort to counter American influence in the Middle East. On Wednesday in Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was hosting a global development summit with numerous world leaders.

Beijing has refused to condemn Hamas and it has called for a cease-fire. China's influence in the region is growing after it brokered a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic ties.

On Monday, China was one of four countries that voted in favor of a Russian-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution urging a humanitarian cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. A similar Security Council resolution brought by Brazil on Wednesday was vetoed by the U.S. while the United Kingdom abstained.

After the hospital strike, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire" to ease "the epic human suffering."

"Too many lives — and the fate of the entire region — hang in the balance," Guterres said.

Across the Middle East, tensions are running very high and fears are growing that a regional war may erupt. The U.S. has sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Eastern Mediterranean and mobilized thousands of troops. The Pentagon says the aircraft carriers are stationed off the coast of Israel to deter Iran and Hezbollah from entering the conflict.

Israeli forces are engaged in skirmishes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The Iran-backed militant group has vowed to enter the war if Israel launches a ground invasion of Gaza. Tehran too has warned it will strike Israel if it attempts to storm Gaza. Israeli leaders have vowed to wipe out Hamas, and its forces are preparing to assault Gaza.

In going to Israel, Biden sought to show the U.S. was firmly behind Israel following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that killed 1,400 people.

“I want you to know you’re not alone. We will continue to have Israel’s back as you work to defend your people,” Biden said. “We’ll continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy to innocent civilians.”

Netanyahu called the president’s visit “deeply, deeply moving,” adding, “I know I speak for all the people of Israel when I say thank you, Mr. President, thank you for standing with Israel today, tomorrow and always.”

The Israeli leader praised Biden for drawing a clear line between the “forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism.”

“The civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

Biden also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog as well as with Israeli first responders and the families of victims and those being held hostage by Hamas. He held their hands, embraced them and listened quietly as their voices cracked as they spoke of the horrors they’d seen, as reported by the Associated Press.

But Biden stopped short of urging Israel to show restraint in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip because of the huge civilian toll, a position that risks fueling anti-Western sentiment and allegations that Washington is turning a blind eye to Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. European leaders have largely mimicked Washington's stance.

“Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people, and it has brought them only suffering,” Biden said.

Biden also spoke of the need to find ways of “encouraging life-saving capacity to help the Palestinians who are innocent, caught in the middle of this.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, on Tuesday urged Biden to use the visit to tell Israel that “Enough is enough.”

“You have to stop this carnage against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Let this stop. Let humanitarian assistance take place,” he said. “Do not displace 2 million Palestinians and push them in the direction of Jordan.”

However, in a speech before he left Israel, Biden talked about the need to resume talks about creating a Palestinian state.

"As hard as it is, we must keep pursuing peace, we must keep pursuing a path so that Israel and the Palestinian people can both live safely in security and dignity and in peace,” Biden said. “For me, that means a two-state solution.”

Since the initial attack by Hamas, Gaza has turned into a humanitarian catastrophe. On top of launching thousands of bombs against Gaza, Israel has cut off the flow of food, fuel and water to the strip, saying essentials will resume only once Hamas agrees to release hostages it took in the Oct. 7 attack.

Mediators have been struggling to break a deadlock over providing supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals. In response to a request by Biden, Netanyahu said Israel will allow Egypt to distribute limited aid to the Gaza Strip.

Roughly 2,800 Palestinians have been reported killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza. Another 1,200 people are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, Gaza health authorities said. Those numbers predate the explosion at the al-Ahli hospital on Tuesday. The hospital had been treating wounded Palestinians and it had become a shelter for many people seeking refuge from the war.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau

Categories / International, Politics

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Biden throws full support behind Israel, blames ‘other team’ for hospital blast

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