A summit between American President Joe Biden and Arab leaders in Jordan's Amman has been called off following a massive explosion at a Gaza hospital that has derailed the diplomatic efforts led by the US to mobilise support for Israel.
The Gaza Strip-based armed wing of Hamas promptly blamed a targeted Israeli air strike for causing the explosion at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday. Amid the escalating tension in the region, US President Joe Biden is scheduled to arrive in Israel today.
A summit between American President Joe Biden and Arab leaders in Jordan's Amman has been called off following a massive explosion at a Gaza hospital that has derailed the diplomatic efforts led by the US to mobilise support for Israel.
The deadly explosion is believed to have killed hundreds of people for which the warring Hamas and Israel traded charges holding each other accountable for the massacre.
Amid the escalating tension in the region, US President Joe Biden is scheduled to arrive in Israel today on a solidarity visit to express support for Israel.
The Gaza Strip-based armed wing of Hamas promptly blamed a targeted Israeli air strike for causing the explosion at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday.
However, Israel vehemently denied the charges insisting that a misfired rocket by the Islamic faction caused the explosion.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, widely considered to be the faction's overall leader, in a surprising move, blamed the US as responsible for the attack stressing that Washington gave Israel the “cover for its aggression”.
“The hospital massacre confirms the enemy’s brutality and the extent of his feeling of defeat,” Haniyeh said in a televised address.
In light of the latest cataclysmic blast Joand its devastating consequeces, Jrdan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced that Biden’s summit in Amman which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been called off.
Biden has been backing Israeli calls for eliminating Hamas following the attacks carried out by it on Israel on October 7 in which more than 1,300 people were killed and between 200 and 250 Israelis are said to have been taken to Gaza as hostages.