U.S. President Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One for return travel to Washington, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, January 23, 2023.
Ken Cedeno.
President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the conflict intensifies.
“He’s coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced during a brief press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Blinken said that Biden will receive security briefings and coordinate with regional partners to mitigate the expansion of the war.
Biden will also work to implement a plan that will allow for humanitarian aid and resources to safely enter Gaza Strip.
Biden warned that an Israeli re-occupation of Gaza would be a “big mistake” in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” He also said that the Palestinian militant group Hamas should be eliminated entirely, but that “there must be a path to a Palestinian state.”
The White House has so far fully supported what it says is “Israel’s right to defend itself.” Israel is on its 10th day of an aerial bombardment campaign of the Gaza Strip, over which it has ordered a total siege, cutting off water, food and electricity supplies to a population of 2 million people.
The siege, which has been criticized by human rights groups for breaking humanitarian law, comes in response to a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The death toll from the conflict so far has risen to at least 1,400 people killed in Israel and nearly 2,700 people killed in Gaza.
Amid ongoing conflict, the presidents of Russia and Syria have urged an end to hostilities.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said its aid workers will no longer be able to continue humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip unless new supplies are allowed into the enclave.
Israel’s military continued to urge residents to move from northern Gaza to the south as it pledged to counter Hamas with “an even greater force.” The evacuation orders have been criticized by many humanitarian agencies.
A Maxar satellite image focuses on the southern border of Gaza and the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Oct. 15, 2023.
Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies.
Crowds of people and vehicles form on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt in this Maxar satellite image taken on Oct. 16, 2023.
Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies.
