Biden blames Palestinians for Gaza hospital attack

US President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he believed the nation's assurances that it was not responsible for the strike on al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night.

"Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," he assured the Israeli leader on Wednesday on a visit to Israel.

Biden said he was "deeply saddened and outraged" by the incident, which has claimed over 500 lives, according to Palestinian officials.

Washington has pledged continued military assistance to Israel, after a deadly incursion into southern Israel earlier this month by the Palestinian militant group Hamas from Gaza resulted in hundreds of deaths. The attackers also captured scores of hostages in the raid, whom they want to exchange for thousands of prisoners held in Israeli custody.

The Israeli government has vowed to obliterate the organization and has subjected Gaza to heavy bombardments since.

The visiting US leader focused on Hamas crimes during his meeting with Netanyahu.

[...]

"They have committed evils and atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat more rational," he claimed, referring to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), the jihadist group infamous for its graphic on-camera executions of hostages.

Biden also stressed that Hamas "does not represent all of the Palestinian people and has brought them only suffering."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog last week assigned some of the blame on civilian Palestinians, stating that "an entire nation out there ... is responsible."

"They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza," he declared.

"The hospital massacre cannot be tolerated by sensibility or the morals of nations, and what is taking place is genocide," Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, wrote on social media on Tuesday.

"We call on the international community to intervene immediately to stop this massacre," he continued. "Silence and bias are no longer acceptable."

The Christian-run Al-Ahli Hospital was destroyed in an apparent missile strike on Tuesday, killing almost 500 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The bombing took place amid continuous Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and Palestinian officials blamed Israel for targeting the facility.

Israeli officials blamed the blast on an errant rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad militant group. However, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on X (formerly Twitter) that Israeli forces struck a "Hamas terrorist base" hidden inside the hospital before deleting the tweet shortly afterward and posting another update blaming Hamas.

"The effects of the massacre are beyond description," Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said in a statement on social media on Tuesday. "The occupation broke all humanitarian norms, charters and laws, and they killed patients and citizens who were safe from its bombing everywhere in the Gaza Strip."

In an appeal directed at the "countries of the world" and the UN, al-Kaila pleaded for someone to "save our people from this deliberate genocide."

The Al-Ahli Hospital was located in Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave. Israeli authorities ordered the evacuation of the city last week, warning that anyone who refused to move south would not be safe from airstrikes. The World Health Organization called this order a "death sentence for the sick and injured," who were unable to leave hospitals in the city.

The US bears the ultimate responsibility for a strike on a Gaza hospital that left hundreds dead, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday amid the ongoing hostilities between Palestinian militant groups and Israel.

Writing on Telegram, Medvedev also weighed in on what he described as a "horrific attack" and "clearly a war crime.

"The final responsibility for it lies with those who cynically make money from wars... With those who thoughtlessly distribute colossal amounts of money for weapons to load its military-industrial complex with work and falsely proclaims their global mission to protect democratic values. The United States of America."

The Pentagon has sent 2,000 Marines and sailors to waters off Israel's coast as part of a "show of force" in the region, CNN has reported, citing unnamed US officials. The move comes amid fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants, which has claimed thousands of lives this month.

Led by the elite 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the "rapid response force" is headed toward Israel on board the USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship previously stationed in the Gulf of Oman, officials told the outlet on Monday. They did not specify the unit's exact destination, or say if it would join two US carrier strike groups presently in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The naval deployments are reportedly meant to "send a message of deterrence to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah," and some of the US warships have recently patrolled waters near the Islamic Republic.

Separately, on Sunday Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered another 2,000 troops to gear up for a potential "medical and logistical support" mission in Israel, according to multiple news agencies.

However, Pentagon staffers stressed that the order does not guarantee direct US involvement in the conflict with the Gaza-based militant group Hamas, noting that the White House "does not want to give the impression that American troops could become embroiled in a hot war."

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the preparations, also stated that the troops would be tasked with "advising and medical support" and "aren't intended to serve in a combat role."

The 2,000 soldiers are now stationed across a wide area, including in the Middle East and Europe, but have been placed on notice to deploy within 24 hours if needed. Though officials said the move would be aimed at "forestalling a wider regional war," the planning comes as some US lawmakers push for direct military action in the Middle East.