US says Israel did not cause hospital explosion, as Biden pledges aid to Gaza

President Biden supported Israel's claim that the Gaza City explosion that left hundreds dead, that Hamas blamed on Israel, was due to a failed rocket attack by a Palestinian armed group. .

President Biden on Wednesday backed Israel's claim that a Palestinian group caused an explosion at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of people. He also announced that the Israeli government would authorize much-needed aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

It was not clear whether Mr. Biden's statements, which was in Tel Aviv, would ease widespread anger over the war and Tuesday's carnage at Gaza City's Ahli Arab Hospital, which sparked widespread anti-Israel protests from Tehran to Rabat, Morocco. Many civilians had taken refuge in the hospital grounds to escape Israel's bombing campaign.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza and fights Israel, blamed an Israeli airstrike without citing evidence — a claim that has been widely accepted throughout the Middle East.

But US officials said evidence from various sources pointed to a failed rocket launch targeting Israel from Gaza as the cause of the explosion. This is the conclusion that Israeli officials began presenting Tuesday evening.

"From what I saw, it appears that this was done by the other team, not by you,” Mr. Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they sat side by side in a Tel Aviv hotel in front of a group of journalists. “But there are a lot of people who are not sure. So we have a lot to do, we have to overcome a lot."

In response to the attack and the taking of hostages from Hamas on October 7, Israel bombarded Gaza with airstrikes, sealed off the territory from imports of vital supplies and asked 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south, while apparently preparing to a ground invasion. Gaza's more than two million residents are rapidly running out of water, food, fuel, electricity and medicine, hundreds of thousands are displaced and many are left homeless.

ImagePeople seeking help after the violent Israeli bombardment of Kahn Younis, in the southern Gaza, Wednesday.Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for the New York Times

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">In a speech in Tel Aviv, Mr. Biden announced aid of 100 million dollars to help civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, and said he had secured a commitment from the Israeli government to allow food and water. and medicine to Gaza via Egypt.

Such an agreement would be a huge step toward alleviating the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but there There were earlier reports that a deal was imminent. , but none materialize.

Mr. Netanyahu's office said Israel would not prevent aid from reaching Gaza through the Rafah border crossing - the only official gateway to Egypt - until supplies were directed to Hamas. But Hamas governs the territory, which leaves doubt about the impact of Israel's situation...