President Joe Biden’s mission to contain Israel’s confrontation with Hamas was overtaken even before he left Washington on Tuesday evening by fast worsening events that threaten to spill over into a regional war.
A devastating blast at a hospital in Gaza believed to have killed hundreds of people prompted Jordan to cancel the second leg of Biden’s trip. After a visit to Israel, he’d been due in Amman to meet key Arab and Palestinian leaders. The tragedy – blamed by Hamas on Israel and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on another Palestinian radical group, Islamic Jihad – reflected the stark risks of a presidential trip amid accelerating events and in a war zone.
“The President sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded,” the statement said. The cancellation of the Jordan leg of the trip presents Biden with a serious optics problem since he now risks being seen in the region as siding with Israel without an opportunity to listen to the concerns of Arab leaders about the terrible humanitarian conditions faced by Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.
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