US President Joe Biden is expected to land in Israel on Wednesday to send a strong message to Iran not to attack the Jewish state and to urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to re-occupy Gaza after his military campaign to rout out Hamas.
“On Wednesday, I’ll travel to Israel to stand in solidarity in the face of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack,” Biden said on Tuesday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been in the region since last Thursday, said Biden will emphasize that “Israel has the right and indeed the duty to defend its people from Hamas and other terrorists, and to prevent future attacks.”
Biden will arrive on the 11th day of the Gaza War, which began on October 7, when Hamas assaulted southern Israel, killing over 1,400 civilians and soldiers and taking some 200 people hostage.
Some 29 Americans are among the dead, and other US citizens are among the hostages.
For Biden, a long-time Christian Zionist who was raised on preventing a second Holocaust, the visit to Israel in its time of peril is deeply personal. It is also a reflection of the alignment of American and Israeli regional interests, particularly with respect to preventing a regional war and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Biden will underscore our crystal-clear message to any actor, state or non-state, trying to take advantage of this crisis to attack Israel: Don’t. To that end, he’s deployed two aircraft carrier groups and other military assets to the region,” Blinken told reporters in detailing the purpose of the trip.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide of Palestinians and said it must stop immediately, state TV reported on Tuesday.
A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also warned of further action by Tehran-backed militant groups against Israel if it did not cease its attacks. The US has also been concerned about the opening of a second front with Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border.
It’s expected that the US could respond militarily to Tehran, should it attack Israel.
2,000 US military personnel placed on alert
About 2,000 US military personnel have been placed on a heightened state of readiness given “the evolving security environment in the Middle East,” but no decision has been made to deploy them, the US Department of Defense said on Tuesday.
The deployment of the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, which is nearing the end of its six-month deployment to the US European Command area, would be extended, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in the statement.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also issued a warning to Iran. In Israel, he said, “I warn every actor they should not think it’s a good idea to intervene in this conflict, it would be an unforgivable mistake and this is a message we have spread through many channels. They need to hear that.”
“I expressly warn Hezbollah and Iran not to intervene in the conflict,” Scholz told a news conference after a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah in Berlin prior to arriving in Israel.
While in the region Biden is also expected to push for the release of hostages and to look to possibly constrain Israel’s military goals in Gaza. Israeli leaders have spoken of eliminating Hamas, but Biden has been concerned that once it does so, the IDF will remain in Gaza and re-occupy it, after having withdrawn from there in 2005.
He has already publicly said that this would be a mistake.
Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, “We are under attack, we need to win the war, don’t stop us.”
Blinken said that while in Israel, “Biden will receive a comprehensive brief on Israel’s war aims and strategy.”
Biden visit to address needs of Palestinians in Gaza
He is also expected to help facilitate aid to the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Hamas-ruled enclave. Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 2,800 Palestinians, a quarter of them reportedly children.
Israel’s decision to halt electricity, food, and fuel to the Strip has exacerbated the plight of Palestinians under Israeli bombardment, with some one million already fleeing their homes.
The situation appeared to worsen as it appeared that an Israeli air strike or failed Palestinian rocket launch killed hundreds of people at a Gaza City hospital on Tuesday. Israel’s military said it did not have any details on the reported bombing.
Blinken said that Biden “will hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians, in a way that does not benefit Hamas.
“The United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza,” he said.
Biden said from Israel on Wednesday, “I’ll then travel to Jordan to address dire humanitarian needs, meet with leaders, and make clear that Hamas does not stand for Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
Jordan’s Abdullah to host 4-party summit
In Amman on Wednesday, King Abdullah is scheduled to host a four-party summit in Amman with Biden and Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss the “dangerous” repercussions of the war in Gaza for the region, officials said.
The discussions would focus on ways to halt “the ongoing war in Gaza and ways to find a political horizon that would allow the revival of the peace process,” an official statement said.
King Abdullah will also separately hold a tripartite summit with both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Egypt has been under pressure to open its border crossing with Gaza at Rafah.
Scores of trucks carrying vital supplies for Gaza headed towards the Rafah crossing in Egypt on Tuesday, the only access point to the coastal enclave outside Israel’s control, but there was no clear indication that they would be able to enter.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said only around 14 percent of Gazans had access to water through a single pipe to Khan Younis that Israel allowed to open for three hours on Monday.
Concerns about dehydration and diseases were high as water and sanitation services had collapsed.
“People will start dying without water,” UNRWA said.
In addition to trying to get aid through the Rafah crossing, Washington also wants it opened to let out Gazans with foreign passports, including several hundred Palestinian Americans. Some Gazans with dual nationality tried to reach Rafah on Tuesday but said it was impossible because of Israeli air strikes.
Even if the crossing opens, most Gazans will not be let out. Egypt has said it could allow medical evacuations but rejects any mass exodus, which it says would amount to an expulsion of Palestinians from their land.
Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday warned against trying to push Palestinian refugees into Egypt or Jordan, adding that the humanitarian situation must be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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