Shortly after landing in Israel at one of the most tense moments in the conflict between the country and Hamas, President Joe Biden said that, from what he observed, the explosion at the Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, in his words, appears to have been “the work of the other side”.
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The statement was made in a conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, this Wednesday (18).
“From what I’ve seen, it looks like it was the other side’s doing, not yours,” Biden said. He also stated that “there are a lot of people out there” who are not sure.
Biden also said he felt very sad and angry about the attack on the hospital.
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It is worth remembering that the speech was made because of the bombing of the Ahli Arab hospital, in the Gaza Strip, which killed hundreds of people on Tuesday (17).
The Palestinian government called the attack genocide and accused Israel. Netanyahu said the attack was the work of “savage terrorists”, referring to Islamic Jihad. The spokesman for the Hamas-allied group denied the Israeli allegations.
After the attack, the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, decreed three days of mourning for the attack on the hospital. For the Palestinian Authority, the attack was a massacre.
Namely, since October 7th, when Hamas carried out several attacks against Israel from the Gaza Strip, more than 4 thousand people have died and thousands have been injured.
Thus, according to experts, Biden’s trip to Israel aims to demonstrate US support for Israel and, at the same time, try to prevent the conflict from involving other countries in the region — such as Iran, Lebanon and Syria.