US President Joe Biden has arrived in Israel to express his solidarity and discuss war plans with its leaders.

He landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and was greeted warmly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the high-stakes visit has been overshadowed by a blast at a crowded Gaza hospital in which hundreds are feared to have died.

The blast, which Palestinian and Israeli officials have blamed on each other, has further stoked tensions.

In a statement issued from Air Force One, Mr Biden said the US mourned “the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy” but he did not attribute blame.

Mr Biden had planned to travel from Israel to Jordan to meet Arab leaders, but that leg of the trip was cancelled after the deaths in Gaza on Tuesday inflamed tensions and sparked protests.

Jordan cancelled the meeting and condemned what it called “a great calamity and a heinous war crime”. The White House, meanwhile, said the decision had been “made in a mutual way” and Mr Biden would call the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and Egypt on his return flight to the US.

Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu held a joint news conference shortly after he arrived, and the US president is expected to meet the Israeli war cabinet later on Wednesday.

He will ask “tough questions” to better understand Israel’s war aims and objectives in Gaza, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

“He’ll be asking some tough questions but he’ll be asking them as a friend,” Mr Kirby told reporters, adding that the US would stress the need for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and the obligation to avoid civilian casualties.

BBC/Adebukola Aluko
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