Biden to travel to Israel on Wednesday
US President Joe Biden will pay a solidarity visit to Israel on Wednesday following the Hamas attacks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced, as he cited progress persuading the US ally to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The top US diplomat spent nearly eight hours in talks at Israel's defence ministry negotiating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to crush Hamas after the deadliest attack in Israel's 75-year history, AFP reported.
The conflict intruded firsthand on the talks as air sirens went off. Blinken, Netanyahu and aides took shelter in a bunker for five minutes, with waiting journalists ushered down a stairwell, before the US-backed Iron Dome system destroyed the incoming rocket.
Speaking at 3:00 am Tuesday (0000 GMT), Blinken announced that Biden, who has spoken in emotional terms of support for Israel, would visit on Wednesday.
"The president will reaffirm United States solidarity with Israel and our ironclad commitment to its security," Blinken said.
"Israel has the right and indeed the duty to defend its people from Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks," Blinken said.
Biden will hear a first-hand account on Israel's military needs and work with Congress to fulfil them, Blinken said.
Biden will visit Tel Aviv, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in Washington. He also announced that Biden would travel onward to Jordan to see King Abdullah II, a key US partner, as well as Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Blinken met all three leaders on a six-nation swing through the Arab world in the three days between two visits to Israel.