Joe Biden exonerates Israel from the massacre at the hospital in Gaza but urges it not to repeat the mistakes made by the United States after September 11. And not to be devoured by anger. This is the message that the American president has brought to a country at war, determined to annihilate Hamas at all costs after the massacre of October 7.
The White House chief's visit was a lightning mission to show solidarity with America's best ally in the Middle East. But also, and above all, to urge the Netanyahu government to act with caution in the face of the humanitarian drama that the people of Gaza are facing, to weigh carefully the military actions that Israel is preparing to continue - including the ground invasion - and the decisions on the future of the Palestinian enclave. Otherwise there is a risk of an escalation of the war throughout the region.
The anger that consumes Israel after the Hamas attack, Biden made clear in front of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet, in which he participated, is the "same that the United States felt after 11/<>," which now "weeps with Israel." But, he warned, the shock, the pain, the anger of this moment, must not make the Jewish state repeat the mistakes "committed by the United States." "The majority of Palestinians are not Hamas," the American president stressed in a speech that tried to strike the right chords, and "the loss of Palestinian lives also matters."
It is no coincidence that these words were spoken in the aftermath of the massacre at the Gaza hospital, for which the Arab world in revolt blamed the Israeli army and on which both the UN and the EU are maintaining a cautious assessment for now. Egyptian President al-Sisi, a key player in the region and usually a balanced mediator, has even gone so far as to call it "intentional." Israel has denied all charges, providing ample audio and video evidence that the disaster (471 dead according to Hamas) was carried out by a defective Islamic Jihad rocket. A position shared by the US president, for whom the explosion at the hospital was caused "by the other side". Biden - who has branded the horrors of Hamas as worse than those of ISIS - specified that the certainty of how the events went was provided by the "data" processed "by the Pentagon".
The head of the White House was also clear and without hesitation on another point: without ever naming them, he warned Hezbollah, which continues to hammer northern Israel, and Iran, which calls for the destruction of the "Zionist enemy". "If you think of attacking Israel," he warned, "give up on that idea, don't do it." With U.S. support, from ships deployed off the country to military aid, "Israel is stronger than ever."
But all support requires a quid pro quo, even among allies, especially in the face of a war situation that deeply affects the humanitarian situation in Gaza and risks spreading with devastating results. Shortly before Biden's arrival in Tel Aviv, the army announced the creation of a protected zone for the population of Gaza in Al-Mawasi, in the south of the Strip, intended for "international humanitarian aid".
Israel has imposed three conditions: it will not allow any influx of aid from its territory into Gaza until the hostages are freed (which is also "a priority" for Biden); that prisoners be visited by the Red Cross; Finally, on the basis of a request made by the US president himself, he pledged not to prevent humanitarian supplies from Egypt: a "minimum" of water, food and medicine in the safe zone of al Mawasi, but without these in any way reaching Hamas. "In that case," Israel warned, "they will be blocked."
Netanyahu himself explained the reason: "Just as the world united to defeat Nazism and ISIS, we must be united to defeat Hamas." The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza seems to be about to open to allow the long line of trucks waiting on the border opposite the Palestinian border to pass.
Biden's visit - before leaving he greeted in Hebrew saying 'The people of Israel live' - has opened a breach for humanitarian intervention in Gaza (among other things, the US president himself has announced 100 million in aid for the Strip and the West Bank) and more is expected from next Saturday's peace conference in Cairo promoted by al Sisi, who also invited Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. But his mediation did not slow down the war. Israel continued to strike Hamas and Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip and their military and political leaders throughout the day and with great intensity.
Among them are Muhammad Awdallah, commander of Hamas' tank anti-missile system, and Akram Hijazi, of the Naval Force. With more than a million displaced, health facilities collapsing, supplies scarce and bodies still under the rubble, the death toll in Gaza has reached 3,478, with more than 12,000 injured. In Israel - on which rockets continue to arrive from Gaza (twice today also on Tel Aviv) - there are 1,400 victims and over three thousand injured, 58 of whom are in critical condition.
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA