Concerns that the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a wider regional battle have prompted Vice President Joe Biden to travel to Israel on Wednesday to demonstrate support for the US partner.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden’s trip to Israel as the humanitarian situation worsens in the 141 square mile (365 square kilometer) Gaza Strip and Israel prepares for a possible ground attack to root out Hamas militants responsible for what the U.S. and Israeli governments have called the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust.
Vice President Biden wants to make it clear that the United States fully supports Israel. His Democratic administration has promised military aid and has already dispatched US carriers to the area.
Officials have indicated that they will ask Congress for an additional $2 billion in help for Israel and the Ukraine, which is now defending itself from a Russian invasion.
Blinken made the statement early on Tuesday after meeting with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials for over seven hours.
As Vice President Joe Biden prepared to visit the region, the United States attempted to break an impasse over delivering aid to the millions of civilians in the Gaza Strip, who have been surrounded by Israel since a devastating attack by Hamas militants.
Despite Israeli warnings for inhabitants of the evacuation zone to prepare for an impending ground invasion, Israeli aircraft continued to pound Gaza early Tuesday.
Israel is ready to launch a big offensive in the region’s north in an effort to completely wipe out the Hamas movement there.
The southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis came under intense shelling, and residents reported rushing the wounded to hospitals.
According to Basem Naim, a former health minister for Hamas and now a high-ranking Hamas official, 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 people were slain in Khan Younis.
Since the Islamist attack on southern Israel last week killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israel has carried out relentless airstrikes against Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Militants kidnapped and brought to Gaza dozens of Israelis and foreigners.
At least 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 injured in Gaza as a result of Israeli airstrikes, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Hamas militants in Gaza have continued their rocket attacks on Israel despite the strikes.
Israeli bombings, a shortage of basic goods due to the blockade, and an evacuation order for the northern part of the Gaza Strip have all contributed to widespread chaos and growing desperation among the territory’s 2.3 million residents.
Sixty percent of the 1.1 million Palestinians who have evacuated their homes are now in a strip of land roughly 14 kilometers (8 miles) long to the south of the evacuation zone, the United Nations reported. Aid workers warned that the region was on the verge of collapse due to dwindling water and medical supplies and the lack of electricity at hospitals.
Truckloads of assistance were ready to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, while besieged civilians, including many Palestinians with dual nationality, hoped urgently to escape through the crossing.
The border was closed last week after Israeli airstrikes, and mediators were attempting to broker a truce to reopen it. A ceasefire in Rafah, which would be necessary to open the gates, appeared to have been agreed upon on Monday, but Israel disputed the news. They had not opened yet on Tuesday morning.
US Central Command chief Gen. Erik Kurilla has arrived in Tel Aviv for consultations with Israeli military authorities ahead of Vice President Joe Biden’s scheduled visit on Wednesday.
Fearing that the fighting along Israel’s border with Lebanon could escalate into a wider regional confrontation, Vice President Biden will also fly to Jordan to talk with Arab leaders.
In Tel Aviv on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States and Israel had agreed to devise a strategy to enable humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza. This was Blinken’s second visit to Israel in a week, following a six-country tour across Arab states.
Although specifics were scarce, it seemed likely that the plan would involve setting apart zones to keep civilians safe.
Thousands of patients in Gaza’s hospitals were in danger of losing power, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been forced to flee their homes were looking for food.
Due to a lack of water, people were forced to ration what little was available, while others risked disease by drinking polluted water or water that had been in contact with sewage.
The Israeli military claims it was evacuating residents from the north of Gaza, where it claims Hamas has significant tunnel networks and rocket launchers, in preparation for a massive campaign against the militant group.
Hamas has hidden much of its military infrastructure in civilian neighborhoods.
Israeli forces have often traded fire with the Hezbollah militia, which is sponsored by Iran, so they emptied communities near the northern border with Lebanon. In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a brutal one-month battle that ended in a stalemate and a tense detente.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset, “Don’t test us in the north.” in reference to Iran and Hezbollah.
Make sure you learn from your mistakes. The price you pay today is much higher. As he spoke, the floor of the Knesset was evacuated due to incoming rocket fire on Jerusalem.
According to reports, sirens in Tel Aviv forced American and Israeli officials to seek refuge in a bunker.
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