An airstrike hit a building near Gaza’s Al-Quds hospital on 18 October, a day after an explosion at another hospital in the Strip killed an estimated 500 people
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has agreed to open the Rafah crossing to allow 20 trucks of humanitarian aid to access Gaza, Joe Biden has said.
Israel has said it “will not thwart” the delivery of food, water and medicine for civilians as long as this aid does not “reach Hamas”.
This comes after the US President told Israelis not to make the “mistakes” that the US did after the 9/11 terror attacks, as he warned its citizens not to be “consumed” by hate over the Hamas assault that killed more than 1,400 people.
During his remarks, Mr Biden blamed an “errant rocket” fired from Gaza for an explosion last night on a hospital feared to have killed hundreds of people, while Hamas have blamed the blast on an Israeli air strike.
Meanwhile, at the UN, the US vetoed a Security Council resolution over the Israel-Hamas war.
The same day the US president left Israel, Rishi Sunak announced a planned visit to the region later this week.
Key Points
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Don’t repeat our 9/11 mistakes, Biden tells Israel
Joe Biden made clear he came to Israel with a single message: “You are not alone”.
The Hamas attack left deep wound among Israelis, the US president said – but he urged the country not to make “mistakes” like US after the September 11 2001 terror attacks.
And he reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the conflict.
After talking to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he posted on social media: “I asked tough questions as a friend of Israel. We will continue to deter any actor wanting to widen this conflict.”
Jane Dalton18 October 2023 15:55
Biden’s Israel trip and GOP chaos drowns out the Trump show – for now
On Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden arrived in Israel to express solidarity with the state after the deadly attack from Hamas. In addition, Mr Biden responded to an explosion at the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza that provoked outrage by saying that US intelligence indicated the explosion was caused “by the other team.”
Meanwhile, back on American soil, the House of Representatives entered its third week without a speaker as Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), the rightwing firebrand, failed to win enough votes to lead the lower chamber of Congress.
The split screen likely gives Mr Biden more than a small amount of glee, while many Americans see that his advanced age is not only a drawback. His 36 years as a US senator, particularly as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his eight years as vice president, also give him wisdom and experience in handling international crises. Meanwhile, Republicans can’t even corral 217 votes to elect a speaker despite having the majority.
Read Eric Garcia’s full column.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 03:30
ICYMI: Why is risk-averse Joe Biden gambling on such a high-stakes visit to Israel?
The matter-of-fact announcement, that the president of the United States had arrived in Tel Aviv to a warm welcome from the prime minister of Israel, presents as normal and routine something that is about as far from routine as it is possible to be.
Joe Biden’s visit, unveiled barely 24 hours beforehand, takes him into a diplomatic and security situation that is both highly uncertain and dangerous. It is an extraordinary undertaking for any US president, and risky in the extreme.
Precisely how risky became apparent even as Biden was preparing to leave Washington on board Air Force One, with the news breaking from Gaza, closely followed by angry accusations and disclaimers, that the main hospital in Gaza City had been hit by a missile, leaving hundreds dead and still more injured. The hospital was also providing refuge for Gazans ordered to evacuate or fleeing homes already destroyed by Israeli fire.
Mary Dejevsky with more analysis on Independent Premium.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 03:00
Key messages from Biden’s trip to Israel
Mr Biden, who delivered remarks in Tel Aviv after a series of meetings with Israeli officials, first responders and survivors of the 7 October attacks, urged both sides against being consumed by anger in an escalating cycle of violence and making mistakes similar to those that the US and its allies had made in the period following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
“You are a Jewish state. You are a Jewish state. But you’re also a democracy. Like the United States, you don’t live by the rules of terrorists. You live by the rule of law. When conflict is fair, you live by the rule of law of war,” said Mr Biden, who added that what sets the US and Israel “apart from the terrorists” is a belief “‘in the fundamental dignity of every human life”.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 02:30
Experts raise doubts over veracity of ‘Hamas’ audio release by IDF after hospital strike
Despite the US and Israel concluding that Palestinian militant groups are behind yesterday’s devastating hospital explosion, some experts are still raisining questions.
Multiple experts told Channel 4 they have doubts that purported Hamas audio released by Israel is accurate, citing irregularities with the speakers’ tone, syntax, accent and idiom.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 01:50
What kind of aid will reach Gaza under new arrangement with US and Egypt?
After days of living under a total blockade, civilians in Gaza will receive limited assistance from Egypt and the US, officials announced on Wednesday.
Egypt will allow up to 20 aid trucks of food, water, and medical supplies into the territory through Rafah, while the US will send $100m in aid.
“This money will support more than 1 million displaced in conflict…including emergency needs in Gaza,” Joe Biden said Wednesday during a speech from Israel.
Human rights groups have said the additional supplies won’t relieve the pressing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as key infrastructure is shut down because of blockaded electricity and fuel supplies.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 01:23
Jordanian minister says ‘nobody’ in Middle East believes US on Gaza hospital blast
US officials say they’ve concluded that Israel was not behind a blast that reportedly killed 500 people at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday, affirming statements from Israeli leaders that the explosion was the result of a botched Palestinian militant operation instead.
Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said that while the US and Israel have one view of the explosion, many Middle East countries don’t share it.
“Nobody is buying that narrative in this part of the world,” Mr Safadi told NBC News.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 01:03
Rishi Sunak plans visit to Israel
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak will visit Israel and other regional capitals this week, as the Israel-Hamas war continues to escalate.
“Every civilian death is a tragedy. And too many lives have been lost following Hamas’ horrific act of terror,” Downing Street said in a statement.
“The attack on Al-Ahli Hospital should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict,” Mr Sunak added.
The visit follows a high-profile trip from Joe Biden to Israel on Wednesday.
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 00:43
Republican congressman accuses Tlaib of joining ‘Hamas misinformation campaign’ over hospital blast
A GOP congressman is furious that representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan blamed Israel for an explosion at a Gaza hospital yesterday, as Israel denies its forces are behind the blast.
“It is appalling and unacceptable that Democrats in Congress partook in Hamas’ misinformation campaign,” Mike Lawyler of New York said in a statement Wednesday. “Rep Tlaib and her radical colleagues helped spread this insidious lie far and wide, without remorse, and as of this morning have yet to take down their posts, issue an apology, or place blame on the actual perpetrators with the same conviction.”
The Democratic congressman, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, has continued to criticise the IDF and the US for not seeking a ceasefire.
“As an American, not just as a member of the United States Congress, I am ashamed,” she said at a rally on Wednesday. “I am ashamed that they’re saying, ‘not yet. Maybe next week.’ … How many more have to die?”
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 00:23
UN official warns of ‘dangerous abyss’ as US vetoes Security Council resolution
The United Nations special coordinator for the Israel-Palestine peace process warned on Wednesday that the conflict was reaching dangerous new territory, after the US vetoed a Security Council resolution on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“I fear that we are at the brink of a deep and dangerous abyss that could change the trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if not of the Middle East as a whole,” Tor Wennesland told The New York Times after the vote.
The US said it voted against the resolution because it “made no mention of Israel’s right of self-defense.”
Josh Marcus19 October 2023 00:03