President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Palestinian militants were behind an explosion that hit a Gaza City hospital, killing hundreds of people.
“It appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza,” Biden said in a speech in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Hamas militant group said an Israeli airstrike caused Tuesday’s tragedy at Al Ahli Arab Hospital, but Israeli officials rejected the claim, saying the Palestinian militants fired rockets near the hospital during a “failed” launch.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden had indicated the U.S. did not hold Israel responsible for the attack in remarks he made shortly after landing in Tel Aviv but had not offered any details to support his claim.
“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said, speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also said “a lot of people out there” weren’t sure what caused the explosion.
Asked to clarify his remarks, Biden later told reporters that his assessment was based on “the data I was shown by my Defense Department.”
The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 500 people have been killed in the strike.
In an earlier statement on Tuesday, Biden said he had directed his national security team “to continue gathering information about what exactly happened,” without blaming anyone for the attack.
Biden traveled to Israel to reinforce U.S. support for the country and to attempt to prevent the war from expanding into a larger conflict in the Middle East.
The president was also meant to stop in Jordan as part of this foreign trip to hold in-person talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, hosted by King Abdullah.
But the summit was called off by Jordan following the Gaza City hospital explosion as Abbas also pulled out.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said his country would only host the talks once participants agreed on a mutual objective to “stop the war, respect the humanity of the Palestinians, and deliver the aid they deserve.”
John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said Biden plans to speak with Abbas and el-Sissi on the flight back to the U.S.
In their first joint remarks before the media following Biden’s arrival in Israel, Netanyahu said his country is united over a shared goal of crushing Hamas as he expressed confidence that the “forces of civilization will prevail.”
Netanyahu said, “And just as the civilized world united to defeat the Nazis, and united to defeat ISIS, the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas.”
While Biden stated that the U.S. will continue supporting Israel in its fight against Hamas, he noted that the U.S. is keen to distinguish the Palestinian militant group and the broader Palestinian population.
Biden said, “We have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them only suffering.”