Source: MIRIAM ALSTER / Getty
While meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Wednesday, Biden backed Israel’s denial of responsibility for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City.
Hamas blamed Israel for the blast, while Israel has denied any involvement and says a rocket misfire from the group Islamic Jihad is to blame. Officials in Hamas-run territory say the blast killed hundreds of people, but no death toll has been verified, and emerging images of the hospital in daylight suggest it was not leveled.
“I’m deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday and based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said to Netanyahu during their meeting in Tel Aviv. “But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure. So, we’ve got to overcome a lot of things.”
Biden was only in Israel for a few hours Wednesday, in an effort to show U.S. solidarity with Israel and navigate a complicated situation with one of the United States’ strongest allies.
He had been scheduled to visit Jordan to meet with Arab leaders after the stop in Israel, but the summit was called off after the hospital explosion.
