American President Joe Biden will travel to Israel next Wednesday the 18th to show the United States’ support for the country and will also visit Jordan to meet with Arab leaders and negotiate the opening of a humanitarian corridor.
“He will reiterate that Hamas does not defend the right of the Palestinian people to dignity and self-determination and will address the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza,” read a statement released after the announcement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Biden’s visit. .
The head of foreign relations of the United States made this announcement afterwards a meeting of more than seven hours with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahuand Israeli war cabinet officials.
In an appearance from Tel Aviv, Antony Blinken reported that the US president will travel to Israel to learn firsthand what the country needs “to protect the people” and to show the solidarity of the United States and the ” its strong commitment” to the security of the country.
The head of US diplomacy explained that Biden “will make it clear again”, as “he has done since the massacre of Hamas”, that “Israel has the right and duty to protect its people from Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks”.
“He came here at a critical time for Israel, for the region and for the world,” Blinken said.
The President, added Blinken, will send a “very clear” message that any actor, state or non-state, that tries to take advantage of this crisis to attack Israel will not do so. He will also know the latest details of the Americans kidnapped by Hamas and will try to “coordinate efforts” to get them “back home.”
A trip with “appropriate safety parameters”
In a media call held shortly after this announcement, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby detailed that Biden will meet with Netanyahu and other officials of his Administration, during a trip that there is an “appropriate security parameters” feature.
“We wouldn’t be talking about a trip like this if we weren’t comfortable with having the appropriate security parameters in place,” the spokeswoman said, without elaborating on where Biden would travel and saying that the American president did not have a press conference in the territory of Israel.
It is a short trip and on the same day Biden will also visit Amman, in Jordan, where he will meet with King Abdullah, the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to discuss humanitarian aid and the possible opening of a Rafah border corridor that crosses between Gaza and Egypt.
“We want to make sure that humanitarian aid starts flowing” and that there will be “a safe passage for people to leave,” especially “American citizens, about 100 who have not been able to leave Gaza,” said Kirby, who did not want to give an opening date.
“We would like to see it flow and, obviously, as soon as possible because there is a need, but I cannot give you a date tonight,” he added.
Likewise, Blinken indicated that he agreed to create “a plan”, at the request of Washington, that would “allow humanitarian aid from donor countries and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza, including the possibility of creating spaces to help keep civilians out of harm’s way.
Negotiations and diplomacy between Israel and Palestine to send humanitarian aid to Gaza
Blinken’s second visit since the start of the war
Blinken is in Israel to discuss the possible opening of this humanitarian corridor to allow thousands of people to leave the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli Army prepares to enter the enclave.
This is the second visit of the head of American diplomacy to Israel since the beginning on October 7 of the war between Israelis and Palestinian militias in the Gaza Strip led by Hamas.
The meeting between Blinken and Netanyahu FOUND interrupted by air raid sirens and Both had to take refuge in a bunker within minutes, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters traveling with the secretary. When the danger had passed, they continued the meeting in a command center at a headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, a meeting that lasted almost eight hours.
In a subsequent brief appearance before the press, in which he announced Biden’s trip, Blinken explained that Biden would “receive complete information about Israel’s intentions and war strategy” and “hear Israel say when how it conducts its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and allows humanitarian aid to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.”
