As Gaza reels from a hospital explosion, Biden arrives in Israel
The Up First newsletter: An update on a failed attempt by the U.S. Senate Minority Leader to declare a war on the Middle East
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A trip by the president less than two weeks after massacres in Israel caused a new war. With his visit, Mr. Biden was intending to show solidarity with America’s closest ally in the Middle East and urge Israel to avoid civilian casualties. He had also planned to travel onward to Jordan to stress to leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority the risks of the crisis expanding beyond Gaza.
The Ohio congressman was unsuccessful in his attempt to become the speaker of the House. The House will meet again at 11:00 a.m. for another vote.
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The director of counterterrorism at the Middle East Institute said the timing was worse than it should have been. “Whatever the circumstances behind this strike at the hospital in Gaza, it doesn’t really matter at this point. We have witnessed the tensions get worse over the last few days.
At a time when Gaza was facing a humanitarian catastrophe and anger was rising, Air Force One took an American president to Tel Aviv.
The meeting of Biden with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in Jordan was canceled after the hospital strike because the Biden administration was trying to contain violence from spreading across the region.
The only option for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip is via the Rafah crossing. Food, water and medicine are already extremely scarce in Gaza, and the dire conditions have worsened in 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. On the way to Tel Aviv, Kirby expressed some optimism that could happen soon.
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.
Kirby said that he would be asking tough questions while he was a true friend of Israel.
Biden supports Israel, saying the most deadly attack onJewish people since the Holocaust was by Hamas and that Israel has a right to defend itself. Kirby said 31 U.S. citizens were among the dead and 13 Americans remain unaccounted for.
Biden talked to Netanyahu after the hospital explosion. John Kirby said that Israel hadcategorically and vociferously denied its responsibility.
Abbas called for three days of mourning when he canceled his meeting with Biden. Biden decided to delay the visit after discussing it with King Abdullah.
A miss-missile attack on the Baptist Al-Ahli hospital, Israel: State of affairs and the White House’s next-to-leading order
The rocket that hit the hospital was a missed missile, and Israel blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. Both Hamas and the PIJ say that an Israeli airstrike hit a group of families as they slept in the hospital’s grounds.
But Biden has visited war zones before, including a trip to Ukraine in February. That travel wasn’t revealed until the president was on the ground in Kyiv.
Protests had already erupted after the hospital strike in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, to name a few. 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.
He said that there isn’t a direct hit at the hospital but that Israel continues to gather intel, including live footage from Al-Jazeera.
He said that before the Baptist Al-Ahli hospital was hit, Israel had shelled the hospital twice, causing some damage. He said that Israel inquired why the hospital hadn’t yet been evacuated.
The president is going to be consulting with these leaders in person soon, and will be directly engaging with each of them over the next few 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.
Israel Arrives in Israel As Gaza Reels From Leaking Hospital Explosion: An Israeli Prime Minister Says He is Not Far From Jerusalem
Saudi Arabia condemned the crime of the Israeli occupation forces in the strongest terms it could.
Hamas has continued to launch missiles at Israel. Israel’s Iron Dome system intercepts most of the missiles thrown at it. Air raid sirens are frequently heard in cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The hospital was treating wounded people from the bombardment of the Gaza Strip and also helping out families who had nowhere else to go.
Since then, Israeli air and naval strikes on Gaza have killed at least 3,000 people, a third of them children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. That death toll was before the hospital strike. There are another 1,200 people that are missing, presumed dead or still alive, and are under the rubble of homes that have been destroyed.
The Health Ministry official in Gaza gave a press conference after the hospital strike. He stood at a podium in front of dead children and babies.
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 ran outside and saw dead and wounded everywhere.
He said that they found a baby on the roof of the hospital. “Many babies died yesterday. There are many babies.
The impact of the book ban on Scholastic Book Fairs: Israel’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and a U.N. refugee shelter
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNN in an interview Israel has bombed the crossing several times in recent days, including as Egyptian workers were repairing damage from one of the airstrikes, wounding several of them.
A U.N. shelter where thousands of Palestinians were seeking refuge was also struck by Israel on Tuesday, killing six people, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
The U.N. relief agency, OCHA, says Gaza has been under full electricity blackout and that its largest hospital only has a few more days of fuel for its generators after the World Health Organization delivered locally stored fuel to it.
The U.N. agency also said that every person in Gaza is estimated to have less than a gallon of water for all their needs per day, including for drinking, hygiene and cooking. That’s in part because water and sanitation facilities have been severely damaged.
“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.
The book ban movement has taken a toll on the school tradition of Scholastic Book Fairs. The organization came under fire for having different displays and allowing schools to refuse to buy books on race and gender.
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HGTV’s The Laundry Guy host Patric Richardson wants you to forget everything your parents taught you about doing laundry. The self-described “laundry evangelist” has tips to make your clothes last longer and save money.
