President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Israel on Wednesday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a visit rife with risk and one that projects the depth of America’s commitment to support Israel while underscoring the precarious state of affairs in the Middle East.
The significant development came late Monday in an announcement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said the visit is meant to “reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with Israel and our ironclad commitment to its security.”
Netanyahu invited Biden to Israel over the weekend. The two have been in close contact in the wake of the brutal Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas, the militant group that streamed over the Gaza border killing roughly 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, in the most brutal offensive in the country’s history.
Biden’s trip is also set to include a stop in Jordan, according to White House national security spokesman John Kirby, where he plans to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi.
Biden was originally invited to Egypt over the weekend to participate in a summit to discuss the future of Palestinians. Blinken and the administration’s national security team have been working with Egypt and others to find a way to deliver fuel, food, water and medical supplies to the densely populated region of Gaza as the humanitarian crisis there worsens.
Blinken also announced late Monday that the U.S. reached an agreement with Israel about how to do just that – though details were scarce.
“It is critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible,” Blinken said, speaking from Tel Aviv, where he said there are concerns about Hamas intercepting the aid. “If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by sieving the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it. And we will work to prevent it from happening again.”
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While Israel forces have continued their unrelenting shelling of Gaza, they’ve otherwise been in a holding pattern for the last 72 hours.
The Israel Defense Forces began staging tanks and troops along the Gaza border on Thursday and ordered roughly 1 million residents to evacuate Gaza City on Friday. It was widely anticipated that Israeli forces would begin a long-promised ground offensive over the weekend – the beginning of what’s expected to be a long, brutal and bloody operation with steep humanitarian implications – but so far there’s been no official start to that assault.
Notably, the Defense Department put roughly 2,000 American troops on prepare-to-deploy orders on Monday to potentially support Israel or bolster other strategic locations throughout the Middle East in an effort to prevent the conflict from spreading.
Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group, began shooting and destroying Israeli surveillance cameras at military sites along the northern strip of the country on Monday and targeted five Israeli military posts – escalating tensions there even further. Over the weekend, Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters exchanged rocket fire that left at least seven people dead, including four members of Hezbollah.
Israel has evacuated dozens of communities along its northern border with Lebanon.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin already positioned the USS Gerald R. Ford – the world’s largest aircraft carrier with a crew complement of just over 4,500 – in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a show of support for Israel and to prevent militant groups and other countries from trying to take advantage of the situation. He also deployed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group there as well.
Biden’s visit to Israel will mark his second to a war-torn nation this year after embarking on a highly secretive visit to Ukraine in February.
Source : US News
