US President Joe Biden has landed in Israel to express his solidarity and discuss war plans with its leaders.
He landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and was greeted warmly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But the high-stakes visit has been overshadowed by a blast at a crowded Gaza hospital on Tuesday in which hundreds are feared to have died.
The blast, which Palestinian and Israeli officials have blamed on each other, has further stoked tensions.
In a statement issued from Air Force One, Mr Biden said the US mourned “the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy” but he did not attribute blame.
Mr Biden had planned to travel from Israel to Jordan to meet Arab leaders, but that leg of the trip was cancelled after the deaths in Gaza inflamed tensions in the region and sparked protests.
Jordan cancelled the meeting and its president condemned what he called “a great calamity and a heinous war crime”. The White House, meanwhile, said the decision had been “made in a mutual way” and Mr Biden would instead call the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Egypt on his return flight to the US.
Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu will hold a “very small restricted bilateral meeting” before the US president meets the Israeli war cabinet later on Wednesday.
(BBC News)
