Biden to visit Israel as Gaza war sparks humanitarian crisis

WASHINGTON:  President Joe Biden will make a high-stakes visit to Israel on Wednesday as it prepares to escalate an offensive against Hamas militants that has set off a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and raised fears of a broader conflict with Iran.

Biden’s visit will mark a significant show of US support for its top Middle East ally after Hamas gunmen killed 1,300 people during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on October 7, the deadliest single day in Israel’s history.

Israel has responded by tightening its blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, including by restricting the entry of fuel, and bombarding the area with air strikes that have killed thousands of Palestinians and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv saying that Biden would visit Israel.

“The president will hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs,” Blinken told reporters.

Biden would meet with Netanyahu, reaffirm Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security, and receive a comprehensive brief on its war aims and strategy, Blinken said.

“(The) president will hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas,” Blinken added.

Blinken also said he and Netanyahu had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians.  After visiting Israel, Biden would travel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, US national security spokesperson John Kirby said.

Gaza authorities say more than 2,800 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, around a quarter of them children, and more than 10,000 wounded are in hospitals desperately short of supplies.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that Israel would not be allowed to act in Gaza without consequences, warning of “preemptive action” by the “resistance front” in the coming hours.

Iran refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a resistance front.

“All options are open and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza,” Amirabdollahian said. “The resistance front is capable of waging a long-term war with the enemy.”

Japan, the current president of the Group of 7 developed nations, said it was in the final stages of arranging a call with Iran, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said, as she announced $10 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza.

As Israel masses troops on Gaza’s border, it has told more than a million people in the northern half of the enclave to flee to the southern half for their safety, even though Hamas has told them to stay put.

While tens of thousands have fled south, the United Nations says there is no way to move so many people without causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

The United Nations says a million Gazans have already been driven from their homes. Power is out, sanitary water is scarce and fuel for hospital emergency generators is running low.