A Day in the Life of a Mission: The House Selectmen’s Report on Israel’s Response to the Oct. 7 Cross-Border Attacks
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On Monday, the president’s top advisers debated among themselves for the better part of a day about the concerns surrounding a trip to Israel, which has launched daily airstrikes in retaliation for the Oct. 7 cross-border attacks. Mr. Biden decided to leave because he wanted to support Israel and help people in Gaza, advisers said. He believed an in-person visit could help him better understand Israel’s strategy as a ground invasion of Gaza looms.
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“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. This strike at the hospital in Gaza has nothing to do with the circumstances behind it. The tensions have got out of hand, we have not seen anything like it before.
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.
As Air Force One sat on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, White House officials told reporters that the summit in Jordan planned for Wednesday had been abruptly canceled. Reporters and some Administration officials on the plane weren’t sure whether the plane would leave for the Middle East. Mr. Biden did not answer questions on his way to the airport.
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The only way for Palestinians to leave Gaza is through the Rafah crossing. Food, water and medicine are extremely scarce in Gaza, and the conditions have worsened in the last week. Many of the injured are children and hospitals are running out of electricity.
Biden’s team has been pressing Israel and Egypt to allow food, water and medicine into Gaza — and to let civilians out. On the way to Tel Aviv, Kirby expressed some optimism that could happen soon.
Biden wants to know more about the efforts to locate and free hostages taken during the attacks, who 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.
Biden is expected to ask Congress for more money for Israel later this week as he pledges his support during the war against Hamas.
“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.
Biden supports Israel, saying that the most deadly attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust took place in Israel and that it has a right to defend itself. 31 US citizens have been confirmed dead and 13 others are still missing, Kirby said.
Biden talked to Netanyahu after the hospital explosion. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Israel had “categorically and stridently denied” responsibility.
Abbas canceled his meeting with Biden and called for three days of mourning. The visit would be postponed after Biden talked to the king.
The Israeli-Israeli attacks on a Gaza hospital: State-of-the-art and next-to-no-studies
But then an explosion at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of people. Israel said a Palestinian group was behind the attack.
Biden has traveled to war zones before, including a trip to Ukraine this February. Until the president arrived in Kyiv, there was no information about that travel.