US President Joe Biden said that a dangerous explosion at a hospital in Gaza seems to have been caused by Palestinian militants. He supports Israel’s explanation of what happened while he is visiting the country.
Mr Biden arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. He expressed feeling very sad and angry about the explosion.
Israel’s army stated that the explosion happened because a rocket fired by the Palestinians went off course.
However, officials from Palestine claimed that an attack by Israel’s air force directly hit the hospital.
The BBC is trying to confirm the number of people who have died, which is expected to be in the hundreds, and also find out what caused the explosion.
Mr Biden’s important visit has been affected by the explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Tuesday evening. This worsened the already tense situation and caused protests in the area.
He arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday where he was warmly welcomed by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, before they held a press conference together.
Mr Biden felt very sad and angry about the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday.
“He said that from what he saw, it looks like the other team did it, not you,” he told Mr. Netanyahu “But there are many people who are unsure, so we need to face and conquer many challenges. ”
The US president said once again that he supports Israel and disapproves of the Palestinian group Hamas. Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on 7 October, resulting in the deaths of 1,300 people, which was a very unusual and severe attack.
According to Palestinian health officials, about 3,000 people have died in Israeli attacks on Gaza in response to previous attacks.
Mr Biden had planned to go from Israel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. However, he had to cancel that part of his trip because of the explosion at the hospital on Tuesday.
Jordan cancelled the meeting and strongly criticized what they called “a terrible disaster and a very terrible crime committed during a war”. The White House said that the decision was made together and President Biden will talk to Mr. Abbas and Mr. Sisi when he flies back to the US.
The President of the United States is planning to meet with the group of people in charge of making decisions about war in Israel later today.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said that he will ask difficult questions to gain a better understanding of Israel’s goals and objectives in the war in Gaza.
“He will ask difficult questions, but he will ask them in a friendly way,” Mr Kirby said to the reporters. He also mentioned that the US will emphasize the importance of providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the responsibility to prevent harm to civilians.
Officials said that Mr. Biden will meet with emergency workers who helped during the Hamas attack, and also with people who lost loved ones or have family members held hostage.
Israel has requested $10 billion in urgent military assistance from the United States. This request was reported by CBS News, a partner of the BBC, who cited sources familiar with the matter.
Officials in Gaza, a place controlled by Hamas, claim that 500 individuals lost their lives in the explosion that occurred at the hospital. A doctor described the tragic event as a “massacre. ”
Hamas accused Israel of committing a “war crime”. A person speaking for Mr. Abbas, who lives in the occupied West Bank, accused Israel of committing a very terrible crime.
However, the Israeli military claimed that they have evidence proving that their forces did not cause the explosion. They believe that it happened because the rockets launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfired.
The spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that according to their information, Hamas looked at the reports and realized that it was actually an Islamic Jihad rocket that went off course. However, they made the choice to start a big media campaign to cover up what actually happened. “They exaggerated the number of people who were hurt. ”