Joe Biden delivered full US backing for Israel in person, on a solidarity visit in which he blamed Islamist militants for a deadly rocket strike on a Gaza hospital and announced the resumption of urgent aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The US president’s whistlestop trip came just hours after Tuesday night’s blast at the Ahli Arab hospital in the Gaza Strip, sparking fury in Arab countries that blame Israel and protests in Muslim countries from Egypt to Pakistan.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah called for a “day of rage,” after its ally Hamas, which runs the strip, said 471 people were killed in the blast at the hospital, where many displaced by Israeli bombing were sheltering.
But European intelligence officials cast doubt on the death toll. One said: “There wasn’t 200 or even 500 deaths, more likely between 10 and 50.”
The official also backed Biden and the Israelis’ account, who said the strike at the Christian-run hospital was from a malfunctioning Palestinian rocket.
Biden has defended Israel’s right to defend itself, and understood the “all-consuming rage” to hit back at those responsible for the October 7 attacks, which saw Hamas fighters shoot, mutilate or burn to death some 1,400 people.
”I caution this: while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged. While we sought justice we made mistakes,” he said.
Israel said later it had agreed to Biden’s request to allow aid into the strip via Egypt after mounting concern about dwindling supplies and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. But it said it was limited to “food, water and medicine” and conditional on it not being used by Hamas.
Biden also announced plans for “unprecedented” aid for Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s military campaign to destroy Hamas, which is holding 199 hostages in the besieged territory, has now claimed the lives of 3,478 people, according to health officials.
Biden will give a rare Oval Office speech to try to get Americans behind the defense of Israel and Ukraine as the crises facing US allies pile up.
The 80-year-old, who is seeking a second term next year, will address the nation less than 24 hours after returning from a high-stakes solidarity trip to Israel.
His primetime speech comes as he prepares to ask Congress, paralyzed by splits among Republicans, for a joint US$100 billion (HK$780 billion) package in “unprecedented” aid that includes money for Ukraine and Israel.
It will be only Biden’s second-ever speech from behind the historic Resolute Desk, which presidents have reserved for moments of critical national importance.
The first was in June when he hailed a deal to avert a “catastrophic” US default after a bitter standoff between Democrats and Republicans.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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