Biden lands in Israel in extraordinary wartime visit

Tel Aviv, Oct 18 (IANS) US President Joe Biden on Wednesday landed in Tel Aviv, marking an extraordinary wartime visit amid the raging Israel-Hamas conflict.

Biden's visit comes a day after a hospital in Gaza which was sheltering thousands of displaced people was bombedon Tuesday. This also led to the cancellation of the President's second leg of the trip to Jordan where he was due to meet Arab leaders.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the first top Biden administration official to visit the war-torn nation. He has made two back-to-back trips since.

According to the White House, Biden will first have a "small restricted bilateral meeting" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After this, he will process to meet Netanyahu's War Cabinet, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby had said.

Biden will also meet Israeli first responders and families "of those who have lost loved ones in Israel and some who still don’t know the fate of their loved ones", he added.

Later in the day, he will speak with his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog.

Informed sources have said that the President's focus will be on managing a complicated situation and less on securing clear deliverables.

After Israel, Biden was slated to travel to Amman where he was set to meet Jordanian King Abdullah II, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

But this summit was cancelled due to the bombing of the the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which Palestine has blamed it on Israel.

But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has “categorically” denied any involvement and instead blamed a “failed rocket launch” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Regarding the cancellation, the White House said that it was a mutual decision, adding that Biden and the Jordanian King has agreed "that now was not the time to try to throw this meeting on, particularly with President Abbas, making it very clear – understandably so – that he wanted to return home for three days of mourning” for the hospital blast victims.