US president Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Palestinian militants were behind an explosion that hit a Gaza City hospital, killing hundreds of people.
Asked what made him confident in his assessment that Israel wasn’t responsible for the blast, Biden cited “the data I was shown by my Defence Department.”
The Hamas militant group said an Israeli airstrike caused Tuesday’s tragedy at Al Ahli Arab Hospital, but Israeli officials rejected the claim, saying the Palestinian militants fired rockets near the hospital during a “failed” launch.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden had indicated the US did not hold Israel responsible for the attack in remarks he made shortly after landing in Tel Aviv but had not offered any details to support his claim.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said, speaking alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also said “a lot of people out there” weren’t sure what caused the explosion.
The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said at least 500 people have been killed in the strike.
In an earlier statement on Tuesday, Biden said he had directed his national security team “to continue gathering information about what exactly happened,” without blaming anyone for the attack.
Biden travelled to Israel to reinforce US support for the country and to attempt to prevent the war from expanding into a larger conflict in the Middle East.
The president was also meant to stop in Jordan as part of this foreign trip to hold in-person talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, hosted by King Abdullah.
But the summit was called off by Jordan following the Gaza City hospital explosion as Abbas also pulled out.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said his country would only host the talks once participants agreed on a mutual objective to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians, and deliver the aid they deserve.”
John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said Biden plans to speak with Abbas and el-Sissi on the flight back to the US.
In their first joint remarks before the media following Biden’s arrival in Israel, Netanyahu said his country is united over a shared goal of crushing Hamas as he expressed confidence that the “forces of civilisation will prevail.”
Netanyahu said, “And just as the civilised world united to defeat the Nazis, and united to defeat ISIS, the civilised world must unite to defeat Hamas.”
While Biden stated that the US will continue supporting Israel in its fight against Hamas, he noted that the US is keen to distinguish the Palestinian militant group and the broader Palestinian population.
Biden said, “We have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them only suffering.”