Biden meets with Israeli leaders as tensions grow after hospital blast in Gaza

President Joe Biden is in Israel on an urgent mission to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader regional conflict and to encourage the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

The president’s visit on Wednesday comes after hundreds of people were reported killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital a day earlier. The Hamas militant group blamed the blast on an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants. Biden told Israeli leaders: “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”

The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. That was before the blast at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital hospital on Tuesday night.

Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.

Intensifying bombardments near towns in southern Gaza where Israel had ordered civilians to take refuge are rattling the people gathered there.

Thousands of people trying to escape Gaza are gathered in Rafah, which has the territory’s only border crossing to Egypt. Mediators are pressing for an agreement to let aid in and refugees with foreign passports out.

Currently:

• President Joe Biden is in Israel as Middle East turmoil grows following the hospital explosion in Gaza. But a planned four-way summit in Jordan has been postponed.
• The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says an Israeli airstrike hit a hospital in Gaza City, killing at least 500 people. Israeli authorities have denied involvement in the explosion and say it was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket.
• The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution about the fighting between Hamas and Israel, but negotiations on the wording were still underway.

Here’s what’s happening in the latest on the Israel-Hamas war:

BIDEN SAYS HOSPITAL BLAST IN GAZA APPEARS TO NOT HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY ISRAEL

President Joe Biden says that an explosion that killed hundreds in a Gaza Strip hospital appears to not have been caused by Israel.

“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said Wednesday during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Biden said there were “a lot of people out there” who weren’t sure what caused the blast.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike caused the destruction. The Israeli military denied involvement and blamed a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group. However, that organization also rejected responsibility.

POPE FRANCIS ANNOUNCES PRAYER FOR PEACE IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE

Pope Francis has announced an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Square next week to pray for peace as he begged for an end to the Israeli-Hamas conflict and the unfolding “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

Francis announced the day of fasting and prayer Oct. 27 during his weekly general audience Wednesday. He urged all Christians and believers of other faiths to join in with local initiatives, while he presides over an evening hour of prayer in the Vatican.

Francis begged for all sides to do whatever is possible to prevent the war from spreading and to avoid a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, where a blast Tuesday at a hospital killed hundreds.

Saying he was thinking of both Palestinians and Israelis, Francis said the situation in Gaza was desperate.

“Silence the weapons. Listen to the cry for peace of the poor, of the people, of children,” he said. “War never resolves any problem. It only sows death and destruction, increases hatred, multiplies vendettas.”

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS CALLS TO MOVE PALESTINIANS TO SINAI PENINSULA

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi says his country rejects what he calls efforts to force Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, warning that such an effort would jeopardize his country’s peace with Israel.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Cairo with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, el-Sissi said Wednesday that his government views Israel’s siege on Gaza, including cutting off water, food and fuel and preventing humanitarian aid from flowing into the territory as a scheme to expel the Palestinians to Egypt.

“We are rejecting the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and the explosion of Palestinians to Sinai,” the Egyptian leader said, adding that Sinai would be turned into a launching ground for “terrorist attacks” against Israel, which would in turn blame Egypt for such attacks.

He said Egyptians reject such efforts and proposed that Israel move the Palestinians to Negev in Israel until it ends “its announced mission” of destroying Palestinian militant groups.

PRESIDENT BIDEN ARRIVES IN ISRAEL

President Joe Biden has arrived in Israel on an urgent mission to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader regional conflict and to encourage the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

Air Force One landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on the tarmac to greet Biden and the two embraced.

Biden and Netanyahu were to meet then hold a broader meeting with members of Israel’s war cabinet. White House officials say Biden will also meet with the country’s first responders and with family members of those who were killed, wounded or taken hostage as part of the surprise attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

Israel responded with a vow to destroy Hamas. The Israeli government also cut off food, fuel, water and other supplies to the Gaza Strip, sparking a humanitarian crisis among Palestinian civilians living there.

Biden’s plans to also meet with Arab leaders in Jordan were called off after hundreds were reported killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital.

GERMAN SYNAGOGUE ATTACKED WITH MOLOTOV COCKTAILS, POLICE SAY

A Berlin synagogue has been attacked with Molotov cocktails, police in Germany say. It comes as antisemitic incidents in the German capital have been rising following the violent escalation in the Middle East.

The Kahal Adass Jisroel community said its synagogue in the city’s Mitte neighborhood was attacked early Wednesday with two incendiary devices. The complex in the center of Berlin houses a synagogue, a kindergarten and a community center.

Police also said there were riots overnight between Muslim immigrants and police in the city’s Neukoelln and Kreuzberg neighborhoods and at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate in which several officers were injured.

German police have increased security for Jewish institutions in Berlin and elsewhere following Hamas’ attack on Israel.

RAFAH BORDER CROSSING REMAINS SHUT, EGYPTIAN OFFICIAL SAYS

No humanitarian aid or people were passing through the Rafah border crossing as of Wednesday morning, an Egyptian official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to speak with the media.

During an interview with CNN on Tuesday evening, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Rafah was not open due the damage inflicted by numerous Israeli airstrikes on the access roads linking the Egyptian and the Gaza sides of the crossing.

“The Rafah crossing over the last days has been bombed four times,” Shoukry said. “Among them, once when we were trying to repair some of the damage. Four Egyptian workers were injured.”

Hamas’ border authorities did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.

THOUSANDS PROTEST IN TURKEY AGAINST GAZA HOSPITAL BLAST

Thousands of people protested across Turkey on Tuesday to denounce the strike on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people. Protests were held in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, where police pushed protesters away from Israeli diplomatic missions.

In Istanbul, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds protesting outside the Israeli Consulate after a group tried to storm the building and others threw fireworks toward the building. Many protesters waved Palestinian flags, shouted anti-Israeli slogans and recited prayers for the victims of the strike. In Ankara, police Gov. Vasip Sahin tried to calm crowds after a group tried to push through police barricades protecting the ambassador’s residence.

ISRAELI MILITARY LAYS OUT INTELLIGENCE ON HOSPITAL EXPLOSION

An Israeli military spokesman said Israel crosschecked intelligence that proved a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch caused a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital.

Had it been an Israeli strike, “we would have seen craters and structural damage to the building, both of which haven’t been identified,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Most of the damage was caused by propellant in the rocket and not by the warhead, he said. Propellant remained because the launch failed and the rocket didn’t travel as far as intended, he said.

According to Israeli intelligence reports, Islamic Jihad fired about 10 rockets from a nearby cemetery at 6:59 p.m. Tuesday, and there were reports of an explosion at the hospital at that time, Hagari said..

He alleged that Hamas understood it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired but “launched a global media campaign to hide what really happened.”

GAZA’S LARGEST HOSPITAL WILL SOON RUN OUT OF FUEL

Shifa Hospital, where hundreds of victims of the al-Ahli Hospital blast were taken, will run out of fuel on Wednesday unless more supplies enter the Gaza Strip, the hospital’s general director says.

The hospital, Gaza’s largest, is stretched far beyond its capacity following the al-Ahli explosion, Mohammed Abu Selmia said Wednesday, adding that health workers were still treating severely wounded patients.

“They are all in a terrible situation,” he told The Associated Press. “A young woman whose limbs were amputated, a child whose intestines came out, many others have had limb amputations, bleeding in the brain, bleeding in the liver and spleen.”

He said earlier that doctors were performing operations on the floor without anesthesia and that a shortage of essential medical supplies was an urgent issue.

If the hospital runs out of fuel, it could be forced into a total shutdown of services, he said, adding that doctors would “remain with the sick and wounded.”

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES CONTINUE, GAZA’S INTERIOR MINISTRY SAYS

Gaza’s Interior Ministry said Israel renewed airstrikes before dawn on Wednesday and hit locations across the Gaza Strip after the blast at al-Ahli Hospital. At least 37 people were killed following attacks in the al-Qasasib and Halima al-Saadia areas of Jabalia, north of Gaza, it said.

HEZBOLLAH SAYS IT HIT ISRAELI TANK, INFLICTING CASUALTIES

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group says its fighters have hit an Israeli Merkava tank with an anti-tank missile, inflicting casualties among the troops.

The group said the attack early Wednesday targeted an Israeli army position across the border from the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab. The Israeli army said it is checking reports that an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon.

JORDAN’S FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS SUMMIT ‘WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO STOP WAR NOW’

Jordan canceled a planned summit with President Joe Biden, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II because it “would not be able to stop the war now,” Jordan’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs said.

Ayman Al-Safadi said in a statement on Wednesday that “Jordan will continue to work with everyone so that when this summit is held, it will be able to achieve what is required of it, which is to stop the war, deliver humanitarian support to the people of Gaza, and put an end to this crisis.”

The summit, originally scheduled for later Wednesday, was cancelled after a blast at a Gaza City hospital killed hundreds of people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants.

US STATE DEPARTMENT RAISES TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR LEBANON

The State Department has raised the travel advisory for Lebanon, urging people not to travel to the country “due to the unpredictable security situation related to rocket, missile, and artillery exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah or other armed militant factions.”

The advisory issued on Tuesday also urged people to reconsider travel to Lebanon “due to terrorism, civil unrest, armed conflict, crime, kidnapping” and the U.S. Embassy in Beirut’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens. The State Department authorized the voluntary, temporary departure of family members of U.S. government personnel and some non-emergency personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Beirut due to the unpredictable security situation in Lebanon.

The advisory was hiked to Level 4, “Do not travel” — the highest level — from Level 3, “Reconsider travel.”

US TREASURY OFFICIAL WARNS OVER HAMAS FUNDING

A Treasury official said the U.S. IS renewing plans to pursue Hamas funding streams and called on allies and the private sector to do the same or “be prepared to suffer the consequences.”

“We cannot, and we will not, tolerate money flowing through the international system for Hamas’ terrorist activity,” said Brian Nelson, under secretary for terrorism and illicit finance, at an anti-money laundering conference.

“Treasury will bring our tools to bear against Hamas’ financing and the overall funding of terrorism,” he said.

WESTERN INTELLIGENCE LEADERS WARY OF POTENTIAL FALLOUT IN THEIR COUNTRIES

Leaders of Western intelligence services said they are attuned to the potential fallout in their home countries of the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel.

Representatives from intelligence agencies from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia — a coalition known as the “Five Eyes” — convened in California to discuss Chinese economic espionage. But the meeting unfolded against the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency is working with local law enforcement to address threats of violence against both the Jewish and Muslim communities. It is also working through its legal attache office in Tel Aviv, Israel, to locate and identify Americans who remain unaccounted for after the Oct. 7 attacks.

David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said events like the Hamas attack lead to “soul searching” about “what we know, what we knew, what we can do in our own countries” to protect against similar violence.

ARAB COUNTRIES AT UN DEMAND IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE

The 22 Arab countries at the United Nations joined in demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza following the devastating explosion and fire at a Gaza City hospital.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, said Arab Group members are “outraged by this massacre” and also united in demanding the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid and preventing “forcible displacement” of Palestinians.

Mansour said that after the “massacre,” the highest objective is a cease-fire because “saving lives is the most important thing.”

Also Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “horrified” at the deaths and “hospitals and medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law.”

The Security Council scheduled a Wednesday vote on a draft resolution that currently condemns “the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas” against Israel and all violence against civilians. It also calls for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver desperately needed aid to millions in Gaza.