In a last minute change of plans, President Joe Biden will no longer be traveling to Jordan to participate in a summit with Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian leaders as part of his whirlwind trip to Israel, the White House pool said in a report.
The president was previously scheduled to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah, as well as Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel—and stop the crisis from spiraling into a broader regional conflict.
Tensions have escalated in recent hours following a Tuesday attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed upwards of 500 people, according to The Gaza Health Ministry. It’s a blast that Israel claims came from a failed militant rocket, while Gaza officials assert it came from an Israeli airstrike.
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A Jordanian official confirmed to The Daily Beast the summit is off, due to outrage over the attack.
“The massacre, what happened this afternoon in Gaza at the hospital, really tipped the scale and changed the dynamic,” the official told The Daily Beast. “It was a very last minute thing… This isn’t something everyone was expecting. Things changed on the ground.”
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, told the country’s state-run television network that Jordan was forced canceled the summit following the attack, but added that he hoped to hold it at some point in the future. He also said the conflict was “pushing the region to the brink.”
The comments were aired just as Biden was boarding Air Force One for his visit to the region, The Associated Press reported.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, The White House said that Biden had already been briefed and spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the hospital explosion in Gaza.
“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted,” Biden said. “Immediately upon hearing this news, I spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and have directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened. The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy.”
Biden still appears to be slated to visit Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday. It’s a high-stakes diplomatic mission his team hopes will display America’s support for Israel.
Read it at The Associated Press
