Biden Pins Blame for Gaza Hospital Blast on ‘The Other Team’
Visiting president says Hamas makes ISIS look ‘more rational,’ praises Israelis for ‘their courage, their commitment, their bravery’ before meeting with first responders.
In a major boost for Jerusalem, U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday backed Israel’s assertion that a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital the night before was the result of a misfired rocket by Palestinian terrorists, as he arrived in Israel for an unprecedented wartime visit by a U.S. president.
“I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” said Biden, sitting alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Tel Aviv hotel. “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears it was done by the other team, and not you.”
At the same time, he added, “there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure. So we’ve gotta overcome a lot of things.”
Later Wednesday, Biden appeared to be asked by a loud group of reporters what information he used to make his assessment about the source of the Gaza hospital blast. He responded: “Data I was shown by my Defense Department.”
Aboard Air Force One on the flight over, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby had told reporters that Biden was going to ask Netanyahu some “tough questions as a friend of Israel” regarding Jerusalem’s strategy in the Gaza war.
The blast occurred on Tuesday evening in the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital parking lot. Palestinians and much of the Arab world blamed Israel, saying it had struck the medical facility and that hundreds had been killed. Jerusalem was swiftly condemned by Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others.
But the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday night said it was not behind the blast, and that a misfired rocket launched by Gaza terrorists caused the explosion. Netanyahu and other senior officials pointed at Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israel presented additional evidence on Wednesday morning indicating that PIJ was responsible for the blast.
Biden landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv at shortly before 11 a.m. for meetings with Israeli officials, almost an hour behind schedule.
During their joint statements in Tel Aviv shortly after landing, Biden compared Hamas to ISIS, saying, “They have committed evils and atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat more rational.”
“Americans are grieving with you, they really are. Americans are worried… because they know this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do,” the president said. As Israel responds, “it seems to me that you have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves. And we’re going to make sure that occurs.”
At the same time, Biden repeated oblique warnings to Israel about its conduct of the war: “The world is looking. Israel has a value set like the United States does and other democracies, and they’re looking to see what we’re going to do.”
“I am looking forward to having a thorough discussion about where everyone goes from here,” Biden said.
He concluded with a message to Israelis, saying “their courage, their commitment, their bravery is stunning. I’m proud to be here.”
Reading off of notes, Netanyahu spoke before Biden, calling the first-ever U.S. presidential visit Israel in a time of war “deeply, deeply moving.”
“Just as the civilized world united to defeat the Nazis, and united to defeat ISIS, the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas,” added Netanyahu, stressing that Israel is united and will defeat Hamas “and remove this terrible threat from our lives. The forces of civilization will prevail — for our sake, for your sake, for peace and security in our region and in the world.”
“Hamas murdered children in front of their parents, and parents in front of their children,” Netanyahu said, detailing Hamas’s crimes during the Oct. 7 attacks.
“They burned people alive. They raped and murdered women. They beheaded soldiers. They searched for the secret hiding places where parents hid their children. And just imagine, Mr. President, the fear and panic of those little children as the monsters discovered, found out, their hiding places.”
“Hamas kidnapped women and children, elderly, Holocaust survivors. I know you share our outrage on this. And I know you share our determination to bring these people back,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli officials have said that Hamas beheaded babies, but Netanyahu only mentioned soldiers.
Netanyahu praised Biden’s “moral clarity that you have demonstrated from the moment Israel was attacked” and said the president has “rightly drawn a clear line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism.”
Netanyahu did not mention the humanitarian situation in Gaza or the hospital explosion in Gaza City.
Later, Biden and Netanyahu led a meeting of the narrow Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv, each bringing their own staffers and advisers. In brief public comments before the meeting, Biden stressed that the U.S. “will continue to have your back.”
The US president praised the members of the cabinet — which was created when the National Unity party joined the coalition last week — for “standing strong, standing united.”
Biden recalled that Israel’s founders said that the nation would be based on “freedom, justice, and peace. The United States stands with you in defense of that freedom, in pursuit of that justice, and in support of that peace, today, tomorrow, and always, we promise you.”
Later, Biden met in Tel Aviv with a group of first responders and doctors, including United Hatzalah founder Eli Beer, who treated victims of the Hamas onslaught, as well as with families of those killed or missing, before also sitting down for a closed-door meeting with President Isaac Herzog.
Americans are grieving with you, they really are. Americans are worried… because they know this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do.
The U.S. president told the group of medical professionals that “none of your hearts have turned to stone,” and expressed his admiration for how the medical professionals expressed pride in having treated victims regardless of whether they were Jewish or Muslim.
Biden said he is “convinced” that the more people know of these stories about the conduct of the medical professionals, “the more they’ll embrace Israel.”
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas late Tuesday to offer condolences and voice support for Palestinians’ “legitimate aspirations,” the State Department said.
Blinken, who is on a regional crisis tour, spoke by telephone with Abbas hours after meeting him in person in Amman.
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