U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Israel and Jordan on a high-stakes diplomatic mission on Wednesday, meeting with regional Israeli and Arab leaders amid what the United Nations has called an “unprecedented human catastrophe” in Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken—fresh out of a marathon overnight meeting with Israeli officials—confirmed at an early Tuesday press conference that Biden would travel to Tel Aviv to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “He’s coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region, and for the world,” Blinken said.
In the wake of the Hamas militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians, Israel has placed Gaza under a total blockade. Military airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Force in ensuing days are believed to have killed at least 2,670 Palestinians and wounded nearly 10,000 more.
ADVERTISEMENT
“First,” Blinken said, Biden plans to use the trip to reaffirm solidarity with Israel and “our ironclad commitment to its security” as it readies for what Netanyahu has promised will be an all-out assault on the Gaza Strip and its 2.3 million residents.
In a statement, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the president’s trip will “demonstrate his steadfast support for Israel in the face of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack and to consult on next steps.”
Netanyahu extended an invitation to Biden to visit after Oct. 7. The two leaders have spoken five times since the cross-border assault, according to NBC News.
Blinken said Tuesday that Biden would also use the meeting to coordinate “with our Israeli partners to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas.” Nearly 200 people, including an unclear number of American citizens, are believed to be held captive in Gaza; Hamas on Monday released the first footage of one of their hostages, who asked to be brought home.
Biden will also receive “a comprehensive brief on Israel’s war aims and strategy,” according to Blinken. Also on the agenda will be a discussion on how Israel plans to minimize civilian casualties and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza “in a way that does not benefit Hamas.”
The secretary of state said that Israel had agreed to collaborate, the American government’s request, on a plan to get critical aid to Gaza’s population. Ahead of the looming invasion, more than half a million Palestinians have fled the strip’s northern region for the south, where fuel, food, and water is dwindling. The Associated Press reported that “truckloads of aid” were idling at the border Egypt shares with Gaza on Monday.
On Monday evening, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the United States had not asked Israel to delay the start of any ground assault while Biden was in the country. “We’re not dictating terms or operational directions to the Israelis,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “We don’t want to see escalation. We want to make sure humanitarian assistance begins to flow.”
The visit by the president into an active war zone comes with considerable risks. On Monday, Blinken and Netanyahu interrupted their meeting to briefly take shelter in a bunker when air raid sirens went off in Tel Aviv.
Kirby said that the White House had done its “homework” on security matters before announcing Biden’s visit.
The president’s itinerary also includes a trip to Amman in neighboring Jordan, where he is set to meet with Arab leaders like King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Kirby told reporters that Biden’s Jordan visit will largely concern “the humanitarian needs of all civilians in Gaza.” He will also make clear that Hamas “does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self determination.”
Hours after Biden’s trip was announced, U.S. Central Command said that Army General Michael “Erik” Kurilla had landed in Tel Aviv. Kurilla, the military’s top commander in the Middle East, will conduct “high level meetings with Israel’s military leadership,” according to a command press release.
“I’m here to ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself, particularly focused on avoiding other parties expanding the conflict,” Kurilla told Reuters.
Read it at CNN
