From the frontlines of the Israel-Palestine war, NDTV brings you daily despatches by journalist Allan Sorensen, Middle East Correspondent for Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, giving insights and gripping first-hand accounts from the war-torn region.
After arriving on Air Force One Wednesday morning, US President Joe Biden began a seven-hour visit in Israel sharing a big hug with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden arrived in Israel to express his support in the nation’s current war against Hamas in Gaza. During his brief visit, he held talks with Netanyahu, took part in a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet, and met with a few of the relatives of some 203 Israeli and foreign hostages kept by Hamas in Gaza.
While Biden’s visit is, first and foremost, seen as a gesture of support for Israel’s offensive against Hamas, it is also seen as a warning to Iran and Hezbollah to refrain from attacking Israel.
In a supportive remark, President Biden stated, “As long as the United States stands – and we will stand forever – we will not let you ever be alone.”
The US President also drew a comparison to the Holocaust during the Second World War.
There is no rationalizing it, no excusing it. Period.
“The brutality we saw would have cut deep anywhere in the world, but it cuts deeper here in Israel. October 7, which was a sacred to – a sacred Jewish holiday, became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It has brought to the surface painful memories and scars left by millennia of antisemitism and the genocide of the Jewish people. The world watched then, it knew, and the world did nothing. We will not stand by and do nothing again. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” he said.
Biden repeated his warning to Hamas’ regional backers Hezbollah and Iran, but also urged Israel to not make the same mistakes as the US after the 9/11 al Qaeda terror attacks in 2001.
“For a nation the size of Israel, it was like 15 9/11s. The scale may be different, but I’m sure those horrors have tapped into some kind of primal feeling in Israel, just like it did and felt in the United States.
You can’t look at what has happened here to your mothers, your fathers, your grandparents, sons, daughters, children – even babies – and not scream out for justice. Justice must be done. But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes,” said Biden.
According to Israeli media, Biden also asked Israel to ease the pressure on the civilian population in Gaza by allowing truckloads of humanitarian aid to enter. Late Wednesday night, Egypt announced that 20 trucks in the massive humanitarian convoy on the Egyptian side of the border were cleared to enter Gaza.
Israel went to historic lengths to oppose the claims of Hamas on the explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which killed hundreds of Palestinians.
For the first time in Israel’s history, a secret recording by the army intelligence unit 8200 was cleared for publishing. The recording is a conversation between two Hamas members immediately after the explosion at the hospital. They can be heard explaining the explosion and concluding that it must be due to a misfired Palestinian rocket. In addition, Israeli security cameras caught the explosion, showing a barrage of rockets fired against the Tel Aviv area, when one of the rockets landed near the hospital and caused an explosion. Qatari TV station al Jazeera also filmed the incident.
The planned meeting between Biden and three Arab leaders in Jordan was canceled after the Gaza hospital attack, blamed on Israel throughout the Middle East.
After thousands of protesters filled the streets in Ramallah, Amman and Beirut in rage against Israel, the Palestinian President canceled the meeting with Biden. According to US sources, this meeting was planned to start dealing with the future situation in Gaza after an Israeli land invasion.
During the meeting of the war cabinet on Wednesday, a decision was taken to enter the next stage of the war against Hamas. This is according to Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari. The decision is widely understood to pave the way for a ground invasion of Gaza in the coming days.
On the northern border between Israel and Lebanon, sporadic and mutual attacks continued on Wednesday. The Hezbollah fired at least six anti-tank missiles against Israeli targets, hitting and wounding at least one person.
For the first time since the beginning of the latest escalations on the northern border, the Hezbollah also fired nine rockets against the city of Kiryat Shemona. Israel retaliated to this attack by hitting Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon. This time, in the area of the coastal city of Tyre.
According to Lebanese media al-Mayadeen, an Israeli airstrike targeted a monument of former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
In another regional development, Israel’s National Security Council issued a warning against travel to Turkey and Morocco. The Israeli authorities fear that Israeli travelers will be targets due to the current tension around the war in Gaza.
The National Security Council raised the alert to Turkey to a maximum of four and called on all Israelis in the country to leave as soon as possible.
In Tunisia a historic synagogue was reduced to rubble amid mass rioting.
Hundreds of people were filmed setting fire to the synagogue in the central Tunisian city of Al Hammah. Videos widely circulated on social media showed people attacking the synagogue without any intervention from Tunesian police.
(Allan Sorensen is the Middle East correspondent for the Danish daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.
