Biden supports the version of the Israeli authorities – L’Express

While this war provoked by the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli soil on October 7 has already left more than 4,000 dead on both sides, the majority of them civilians, a rocket attack on a Palestinian hospital in Gaza killed several hundred people, Tuesday October 17. A deadly strike unanimously denounced by the international community, as the American president arrives in Israel.

While Israel is designated by Hamas and many neighboring countries as guilty of this strike, the Israeli army repeated this Wednesday that it had “evidence” of the responsibility of the Palestinian armed group Islamic Jihad, without presenting it for the moment.

“The evidence, which we share with all of you, confirms that the explosion in a hospital in Gaza was caused by the firing of a failed Islamic Jihad rocket,” said the same military spokesperson Daniel Hagari during ‘a press conference. A promise already made by this same head of the Israeli army on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. For its part, Hamas estimated Wednesday that “this horrible massacre was perpetrated with the help of an American military arsenal of which only the occupier [Israël] disposes”.

Statements made in parallel with the numerous international condemnations of this deadly attack this Wednesday morning. Russia notably denounced a “crime” and an “act of dehumanization” through spokesperson Maria Zakharova, calling on Israel to prove its innocence.

For their part, the United States, France, Germany, Spain and the European Union have condemned this attack against civilians. “All the facts must be established and those responsible will be held to account,” added European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the European Parliament on Wednesday.

While the explosion caused the cancellation of a summit in Jordan where American President Joe Biden was due to go this Wednesday, the head of state arrived this Wednesday in Israel for a solidarity visit.

After being welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog on the tarmac of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Joe Biden supported the version of the Israeli authorities attributing the strike which killed hundreds to Palestinian fighters. people in a hospital in Gaza. “I was deeply saddened and shocked by the explosion in the hospital in Gaza yesterday (Tuesday). And based on what I saw, it appears that it was carried out by the opposing side, not by you,” declared the American president, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. “We must also keep in mind that Hamas does not represent all of the Palestinian people and has only brought them suffering,” he added. On Tuesday, he said he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion”.

John Kirby, spokesperson for the American National Security Council, assured that Joe Biden would also call the Palestinian leader and the Egyptian president on the return plane on Wednesday evening.

The situation in the Gaza Strip is “becoming out of control” due to a lack of humanitarian aid ready to be delivered there, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday on the X network (formerly Twitter).

“Every second we wait for medical help, we lose lives,” posted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, pointing out that medical supplies have been blocked for four days at the Egypt-Gaza border. “We need immediate access to start delivering these vital products,” insisted Dr Tedros.

Like many other heads of UN agencies and NGOs or states, he is calling for the opening of the Rafah border post. For days, tons of aid have been blocked in the Egyptian Sinai desert while Rafah is closed on the Palestinian side, after four bombings this week.

For his part, Egyptian President and autocrat Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Wednesday against a massive exodus of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, seeing it as a first step before “a similar movement from the West Bank to the Jordan”.

While the Egyptian head of state denied having “closed the Rafah crossing” between his country and Gaza, instead denouncing “Israeli bombings”, he subsequently accused Israel of pushing the Palestinians to leave their land. “A way to put an end to the Palestinian cause at the expense of neighboring countries,” added Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.

He also warned that “if I ask the Egyptian people to come out into the streets, there will be millions of them to support Egypt’s position”, referring to “Arab opinion” sensitive to “the Palestinian cause which is the greatest causes”.

The United States on Tuesday authorized the departure of its non-essential personnel, as well as their families, from its embassy in Beirut in the face of deteriorating security conditions in Lebanon in the wake of the war between Israel and Hamas. At the same time, the United States raised the alert level of its travel advisory from 3 to 4 (the highest), advising all American nationals not to travel to Lebanon.

“Do not travel to Lebanon due to the unpredictable security situation linked to rocket, missile and artillery fire between Israel and Hezbollah or other militant armed factions,” said a State Department statement released in the evening. Tuesday.

Several other Western countries, including France, Canada, Australia and Sweden, have in recent days advised their nationals not to travel to Lebanon due to fear of a regional conflagration. Hundreds of demonstrators also demonstrated Tuesday evening in front of the French and British embassies in Tehran, Iran, following the attack on a hospital in Gaza that same day.