By MATTHEW LEE, COLLEEN LONG and AAMER MADHANI (Associated Press)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden will journey to Israel and on to Jordan Wednesday to satisfy with each Israeli and Arab management, as issues improve that the raging Israel-Hamas battle may develop into a bigger regional battle.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken introduced Biden’s journey to Israel because the humanitarian scenario within the Gaza Strip grows extra dire and as Israel prepares for a potential floor assault on the 141-square-mile (365-square-kilometer) territory to root out Hamas militants liable for what U.S. and Israeli officers say was essentially the most deadly assault in opposition to Jews because the Holocaust.
Biden is seeking to ship the strongest message but that the U.S. is behind Israel. His Democratic administration has pledged army help, sending U.S. carriers and support to the area. Officials have mentioned they’d ask Congress for upward of $2 billion in extra support for each Israel and Ukraine, which is combating Russia’s invasion.
Blinken made the announcement early Tuesday after greater than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and different prime Israeli officers.
“He is coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world,” Blinken mentioned.
Shortly after in Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby introduced that Biden would additionally go to Jordan to satisfy with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza,” Kirby mentioned. “That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.”
Truckloads of support idled Monday at Egypt’s border with Gaza, barred from entry, as residents and humanitarian teams pleaded for water, meals and gasoline for dying mills, saying the tiny Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel after final week’s rampage by Hamas was close to whole collapse.
Biden had been scheduled to journey to Pueblo, Colorado, on Monday however determined to postpone the go to so he may seek the advice of along with his aides and converse with fellow leaders concerning the unfolding scenario within the Middle East.
The bulletins got here after Biden consulted with a trio of world leaders and his personal nationwide safety crew on Monday amid rising international concern concerning the humanitarian disaster unfolding within the Gaza Strip and fears that the Israel-Hamas battle may metastasize right into a broader regional battle.
Biden spoke by cellphone with Egypt’s el-Sissi, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz concerning the fallout from Hamas militants’ shock assaults on Israel that left 1,400 lifeless and retaliatory strikes which have killed at the very least 2,778 Palestinians.
European Union leaders will maintain an emergency summit on Tuesday as concern mounts that the battle between Israel and Hamas may gasoline tensions in Europe and produce extra refugees searching for sanctuary.
Biden’s name with the Egyptian chief got here sooner or later after el-Sissi met with Blinken in Cairo. Egypt’s state-run media mentioned el-Sissi informed Blinken that Israel’s Gaza operation has exceeded “the right of self-defense” and was “a collective punishment.”
Kirby declined to touch upon el-Sissi’s issues about how Israel is conducting the battle.
“The humanitarian situation was high on the list of the discussion with President el-Sissi,” Kirby mentioned.
Earlier Monday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been briefed within the Oval Office by their nationwide safety crew on the scenario on the bottom in Israel and Gaza. White House chief of workers Jeff Zients joined the briefing led by nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns, in keeping with the White House.
Blinken was in Israel on Monday for his second go to in lower than per week for talks with Israeli leaders. He has been crisscrossing the Middle East with stops in Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken, in talks Monday with Netanyahu and different Israeli officers, carried again a number of the suggestions he obtained from Arab leaders. He additionally “underlined his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas’ terrorism and reaffirmed U.S. determination to provide the Israeli government with what it needs to protect its citizens,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller mentioned in an announcement.
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Long and Madhani reported from Washington. AP writers Jon Gambrell in Jerusalem and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”