Blinken expresses 'profound condolences' over hospital blast in call with Abbas
Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed "profound condolences" for the civilian lives lost in the explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza late yesterday in a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Blinken and Abbas discussed "the continuing U.S. support for the Palestinian people" and provision of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, according to spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Daylight aftermath of Gaza hospital blast
Scorched vehicles sit outside the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza this morning, following an explosion at the facility late yesterday.
Israeli troops prepare for possible two-front war
TEL AVIV — While Israel and Hamas fight near Gaza in the south, Hezbollah is launching missiles from Lebanon along the northern border. And Israeli troops are preparing for the possibility of a simultaneous war along both borders.
Violent protests erupt outside U.S. Embassy in Beirut
Lebanese people gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut into the early hours of today, after the blast at Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
Biden set to arrive in Israel after Jordan summit canceled
Biden is expected to arrive in Israel today to demonstrate steadfast support and consult with the Israeli government.
But he arrives in the wake of the deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital, which has left the Middle East at perhaps its most tense in 11 days of war between Israel and Hamas.
Biden said in a statement that he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted.”
He had planned to travel to Amman for talks with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority that were set to focus on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but the meeting has been canceled after the hospital explosion.
Catch up with NBC News' coverage of the Israel-Hamas war
Here are just some of the articles we've published on the conflict in the last 24 hours.
- ‘A massacre’: Gaza hospital blast could be the deadliest of the war
- How President Joe Biden's Israel trip came together
- Biden’s trip to Jordan is called off
- Hamas expresses willingness to release some captive women and children
- Republicans want to ban Palestinian refugees from entering the U.S., but it’s already very hard for them to get in
- Meet the man tasked with keeping a lid on the Middle East
- White House calls Trump’s Israel-Hamas war response ‘revolting and disgusting’
- Poll of U.S. college students finds most blame Hamas for attack on Israel
- Gaza taps are running dry as water shortage reaches crisis point