Finance
New Delhi: US President Joe Biden backed Israel’s claim that militants were responsible for the attack at a Gaza hospital that left hundreds dead and spiked tensions across the Middle East.
“The explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday deeply saddened and outraged me.” And based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though the other team did it,” Biden informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu minutes after landing in Tel Aviv today.
Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, beginning a visit to show solidarity and confer on the spiralling Gaza war. Descending from the plane amid a large security contingent, Biden embraced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog on the tarmac.
Shortly after landing, Biden held a joint address with Netanyahu expressing his support in the war against Hamas.
In retaliation for the killing of 1,400 people who were shot, mutilated, or burnt to death in shocking cross-border attacks launched by Hamas on October 7, Biden strongly supported top ally Israel and its military campaign.
“I wanted to be here today. For a simple reason I want the people of Israel, the people in the world to know where the United States stands,” Biden said.
Biden also denounced Hamas for their ‘atrocities’, stating that they have taken hundreds of hostages and are reportedly beheading women and children.
“They (Hamas) committed atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat rationale. We also have to bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people, and has brought them only suffering,” he added.
Before today’s hospital attack, Israel’s campaign to dismantle Hamas and rescue 199 hostages from the besieged and blockaded territory had already claimed at least 3,000 lives inside Gaza.
Hamas and Israel traded accusations after a blast ripped through a hospital killing 500. While Hamas claims an Israeli rocket caused the blast, the Benjamin Netanyahu government asserts they played no role in the attack. The Israeli military blamed Palestinian militants, saying that the an outgoing Islamic Jihad rocket misfired.
