US President Joe Biden said Wednesday in Tel Aviv that he would work with Israel to prevent "further tragedy" for civilians, on the 12th day of a war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has left thousands dead. "We will continue to work with you and our partners across the region to prevent further tragedy to innocent civilians," he said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at his side, vowed that his country will "do everything it can" to spare civilians. The US president's visit, which arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning, comes a day after a strike killed more than 200 people on the grounds of a hospital in Gaza, a territory under the control of Hamas.
"Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them nothing but suffering"
The Islamist movement blames Israel, which in turn blames the strike on Islamic Jihad, another armed organization present in the Gaza Strip, which has denied it. The U.S. president supported the Israeli authorities' version.
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I was deeply saddened and shocked by the explosion in the hospital in Gaza yesterday (Tuesday). And based on what I've seen, it appears that it was carried out by the opposing side, not by you," he told Benjamin Netanyahu. "We must also keep in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them nothing but suffering," he added.
LIVE - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Hamas accuses US of being 'complicit in Israeli massacres'
More than 1400,7 people have died in Israel, mostly civilians killed on the day of the October 3000 attack by Hamas, the deadliest since the establishment of the State of Israel. Israeli retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed more than <>,<> people, the majority of them Palestinian civilians, according to local authorities.