Biden is in the Middle East and screen time can change your eyes
The Up First Podcast: Selected Topics for the Biden-Contract Address to Israel and the Security of Humanitarian Aid in the Middle East
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President Biden plans to travel to the Middle East today to reaffirm U.S. solidarity with Israel and press for humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians. He’s expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv and Arab leaders in Amman, Jordan’s capital. A ground invasion is expected as Israeli forces gather at the Gaza border. The president will take NPR’s tamboury with him.
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Palestinians and Israelis in the midst of the Israeli-Jewish conflict: Israel, Israel and Hamas urged us to come in and help Israel
“The timing and optics of such a significant visit couldn’t be any worse,” said Charles Lister, the director of counterterrorism at the Middle East Institute. “Whatever the circumstances behind this strike at the hospital in Gaza, it doesn’t really matter at this point. The tensions have been inflamed beyond anything we’ve seen over the last week.”
Eventually, Air Force One departed, carrying an American president bound for Tel Aviv at a moment when Gaza was facing a humanitarian catastrophe and anger was reverberating across the Middle East.
A meeting of Biden and the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority had to be canceled because of the hospital strike, but it was a sign of the desperation that the Biden administration is in.
The Rafah crossing is effectively the only option for Palestinians to leave Gaza, and for any aid to come in. Food, water and medicine are not easy to come by in Gaza, and the situation has worsened over the last week. Hospitals are running out of electricity and are struggling to treat the thousands of injured, many of whom are children.
Biden’s team has been pressing Israel and Egypt to allow food, water and medicine into Gaza — and to let civilians out. Kirby was going to Tel Aviv and he expressed some optimism.
Biden also hopes to get more information about efforts to locate and free hostages taken during the attacks, a handful of whom are believed to be American citizens. Biden will meet with people who lost loved ones during the attacks, as well as first responders, Kirby said.
At the same time, Biden has pledged support for Israel in its war against Hamas, and is expected to ask Congress later this week to provide funding for additional military aid to Israel.
“He’ll be asking some tough questions – he’ll be asking them as a friend, as a true friend of Israel but he’ll be asking some questions of them,” Kirby said.
“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted,” Biden said in a statement. “The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy.”
Biden talked to Netanyahu after the explosion. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Israel had “categorically and stridently denied” responsibility.
Abbas cancelled his meeting with Biden, and called for three days of mourning. Biden said he would postpone the visit after he talked to King Abdullah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveals the “barbaric terrorists in Gaza” that attacked the Baptist Al-Ahli hospital on Oct. 7
The strike on the hospital was described by Hamas as a massacre that exposed the American and Western support for the criminal occupation. Muslims and Arabs around the world are being urged to rally against Israel by Hamas.
Biden has traveled to war zones before, most recently in February. The travel was not revealed until after the president arrived in Kyiv.
There were protests after the hospital strike in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. Protests also broke out in Palestinian cities in the West Bank with protesters in Ramallah chanting slogans against Israel and the Palestinian Authority leadership as police tried to disperse them.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters late Tuesday evening that an initial internal review showed it was a misfired rocket from Gaza, based on footage from Israeli drones and chatter among militants calling it a PIJ misfire.
Israel is still collecting intel after it saw a hit in the parking lot, although it did not see a direct hit at the hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under intense domestic pressure to respond forcefully to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, said in a statement that it was the “barbaric terrorists in Gaza” that attacked the Baptist Al-Ahli hospital.
The president will be consulting with these leaders in person soon, and will be directly interacting with them over the coming days, according to the White House.
The Secretary-General called for a cease-fire. He said too many lives and the fate of the entire region hang in the balance.
The explosion of a Gaza hospital: “Biden arrives in Israel as gaza reels from deadly hospital explosion” — An Israeli official tells NPR
Saudi Arabia slammed Israel in a strongly worded statement, saying it condemned the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces.
Hamas is continuing to launch missiles at Israel. Israel’s Iron Dome is the most effective defense system. Air raid sirens are frequently heard in cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The Baptist Al-Ahli hospital was housing families who had nowhere else to go as it treated injured people from the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has told half of Gaza’s population to leave their homes, with hundreds of thousands heading south. The south and across Gaza continue to be hit by Israeli airstrikes.
A senior Health Ministry official in Gaza, Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Reesh, gave a press conference after the hospital strike. He stood at a podium surrounded by dead children.
Dr. Fadel Naim, a doctor at the Baptist Al-Ahli hospital, told NPR that doctors were operating on patients when they heard a loud explosion. He saw dead and wounded people when he ran outside.
He described the scene and impact of the explosion, with a baby on the roof of the hospital. “Many babies died yesterday. Many babies.”
Source: Biden arrives in Israel as Gaza reels from deadly hospital explosion
Israel’s attack on a U.N. shelter on Tuesday killed six and left with no water, according to the United Nations Agency for Gaza
Israel bombings the crossing multiple times in recent days, including when Egyptian workers were fixing damage from one of the strikes, according to Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Israel struck a U.N. shelter on Tuesday, killing at least six people, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
According to the UN, Gaza has been without electricity since the beginning of the year and that its largest hospital is only able to get a few more days of fuel for its generators.
The U.N. said Gazans have less than a gallon of water per person per day, including for drinking, hygiene and cooking. In part it is due to the damage to water and Sanitation facilities.
“People have resorted to consuming brackish water extracted from agricultural wells, increasing exposure to pesticides and other chemicals, placing the population at risk of death or infectious disease outbreak,” the U.N. relief agency said.
US President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” by the explosion at a Gaza hospital and “deeply saddened” by the “terrible loss of life” that resulted. “I’m urging all parties to allow unimpeded access to…essential humanitarian supplies for Palestinians in Gaza,” Biden said in a statement. “I look forward to visiting the region in the coming days,” he added.