Biden offers Israelis support, Palestinians aid in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV — U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that a deadly blast at a Gaza Strip hospital appeared to be from “an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group,” and he pledged support to Israelis and humanitarian assistance to suffering Palestinians. Flying home after a brief Tel Aviv visit, Biden told reporters he had been blunt with the Israelis about the need to support getting aid to Palestinians in Gaza. “Israel has been badly victimized but the truth is they have an opportunity to relieve suffering of people who have nowhere to go … it’s what they should do,” Biden said during a refueling stop for Air Force One at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Biden praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for agreeing to open the Rafah border crossing to allow 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza and pledged the U.S. would get people trapped in Gaza out. “We’re going to get people out,” Biden said without offering details. Biden traveled to Israel to offer U.S. support in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli villages and military bases by Gaza-based Palestinian Hamas gunmen who killed 1,400 people and took about 200 hostages, Israel has said. His trip was upended by a deadly explosion at Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital on Tuesday evening. Palestinian officials blamed it on an Israeli air strike. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame. “Based on the information we’ve seen to date, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group from Gaza,” Biden said. “The United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict and I grieve … for the families who were killed or wounded by this tragedy.” Biden later told reporters he understood why some people across the region were sceptical about who was responsible. “I don’t say things like that unless I have faith in the source I got it … our Defense Department says it’s highly unlikely it’s the Israelis,” he said. The White House said Biden would speak from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday (0000 GMT on Friday) about the Israel-Hamas conflict and the war in Ukraine. New aid Biden said the U.S. would provide $100 million in new funding for humanitarian aid in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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