(A7) US President Joe Biden’s plane, Air Force One, took off on Tuesday evening from Andrews Air Force Base on its way to Israel.

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 Moments before the President’s departure, the White House announced that Biden had canceled his visit to Jordan and would only visit Israel.

The decision to call of the visit to Jordan was made after the Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced the cancellation of the summit that Biden, King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas were scheduled to hold together.

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Jordan’s Foreign Minister stated that the summit was canceled because “there is no point in talking about anything other than stopping the war”, as he put it.

“After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sisi of Egypt,” the White House said in a statement.

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“The President sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. He looks forward to consulting in person with these leaders soon, and agreed to remain regularly and directly engaged with each of them over the coming days,” it added.

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— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 17, 2023

Commenting on the explosion at the hospital, Biden said in a statement, “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. 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,” he added.

Israel had been blamed for the explosion at the Gaza hospital, which Hamas claimed killed hundreds of Gazans, but the IDF officially confirmed on Tuesday night that the IDF did not attack the hospital and that the explosion was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket.

“Following an additional review and cross-examination of the operational and intelligence systems, it is clear that the IDF did not strike the hospital in Gaza,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

“The terrorist organizations within the Gaza Strip fire indiscriminately toward Israel. Since the beginning of the war, approximately 450 rockets launched toward Israel have fallen within Gaza, endangering and harming the lives of Gazan residents,” the statement said.