Biden will travel to Israel and Jordan on Wednesday

U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced after a meeting of more than seven hours in Tel Aviv with U.S. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The aim of the visit is to show solidarity with one of its staunchest allies in the Middle East following Hamas' October 7 attack, and to try to prevent the crisis from spreading to the region. After that, he will continue his trip to Jordan the same day to meet with Arab leaders.

"It comes at a key moment for Israel, for the region and for the whole world," said the head of US diplomacy, on the sixth day of a tour of his country's main partners in the Middle East. The United States has sent two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean in a gesture of support for Israel and a warning to other countries against any temptation to interfere in the crisis.

From the first moment of the crisis, Biden has expressed his firm support for Israel, although in recent days he has also insisted that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian population and the need to guarantee humanitarian aid for residents trapped in Gaza in the face of the military campaign planned by Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

The U.S. president had canceled on Monday a planned visit to the state of Colorado to promote his economic and clean energy program. Instead, he opted to remain in Washington for a new round of consultations with international leaders, from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who himself travels to Israel this week, to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The cancellation had sparked speculation that a trip to Israel was imminent. That possibility had been rumored since Sunday, when Israeli officials revealed that Netanyahu had invited the White House occupant to his country during a phone conversation.

The announcement comes as the crisis in the Middle East deepens following the attack by the radical Palestinian militia Hamas on Israel on October 7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is preparing to order its forces into Gaza as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, home to about 2.3 million people, deteriorates. Israeli shelling has already left 2,750 dead and 9,700 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In an interview aired on CBS's "60 Minutes," Biden had declared himself opposed to an Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. "I think that would be a big mistake," he said, in his clearest attempt to contain Israel since the beginning of the crisis. The occupant of the White House opined in favor of the need to defeat Hamas, but qualified that it must be achieved with "a path to a Palestinian state."

(Breaking news. Enlargement will follow)

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