Biden\u2019s visit will mark a significant show of US support for its top Middle East ally after Hamas gunmen killed 1300 people during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on October 7, the deadliest single day in Israel\u2019s 75-year history.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Palestinian emergency services and local citizens search for victims in buildings destroyed during Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n Israel has responded by tightening its blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, including by restricting the entry of fuel and bombarding the area with air strikes that have killed thousands of Palestinians and displaced hundreds of thousands more.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv by saying that Biden would visit Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president will hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs,\u201d Blinken told reporters.<\/p>\n Biden would meet with Netanyahu, reaffirm Washington\u2019s commitment to Israel\u2019s security, and receive a comprehensive briefing on its war aims and strategy, Blinken said.<\/p>\n Israeli soldiers patrol along a road near the border between Israel and Lebanon.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201c[The] president will hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas,\u201d Blinken added.<\/p>\n Blinken also said he and Netanyahu had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians. He did not provide details.<\/p>\n After visiting Israel, Biden would travel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, US national security spokesperson John Kirby said.<\/p>\n Gaza authorities say more than 2800 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, around a quarter of them children, and more than 10,000 wounded are in hospitals desperately short of supplies.<\/p>\n Israeli officials say that in addition to the casualties Hamas inflicted, the Iran-backed group took some 199 hostages into Gaza.<\/p>\n Khaled Meshaal, a top Hamas leader, said the group \u201chas what it needs\u201d to free all Palestinians in Israel\u2019s jails, indicating it may try to use the kidnapped Israelis as bargaining chips.<\/p>\n Soon after Meshaal\u2019s remarks, the group\u2019s armed wing separately said the non-Israelis it had taken captive were \u201cguests\u201d who would be released \u201cwhen circumstances allow\u201d.<\/p>\n Hamas released a video in which a French-Israeli woman captive was shown having her injured arm treated by an unidentified medical worker. She identified herself as 21-year-old Mia Schem and asked to be returned to her family as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n Hamas released a video of Mia Shem, 21, from Shoham who was kidnapped from the party in Re\u2019im.<\/span><\/p>\n The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad military targets overnight, including Hamas\u2019 headquarters and a bank used by the group. It said a Hamas military operative was killed in the strikes.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s trip is a rare and risky choice, showing American backing for Netanyahu as the US tries to avert a broader regional war involving Iran, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and Syria. It comes as Israel is preparing a ground offensive in Gaza expected to intensify the enclave\u2019s humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told state TV that Israel would not be allowed to act in Gaza without consequences, warning of \u201cpreemptive action\u201d by the \u201cresistance front\u201d in the coming hours.<\/p>\n Iran refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the US as a resistance front.<\/p>\n \u201cAll options are open and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza,\u201d Amir-Abdollahian said. \u201cThe resistance front is capable of waging a long-term war with the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n Japan, the current president of the Group of 7 developed nations, said it was in the final stages of arranging a call with Iran, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said, as she announced $US10 million ($15.7 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza.<\/p>\n Last week, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran was not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel, but hailed what he called Israel\u2019s \u201cirreparable\u201d military and intelligence defeat.<\/p>\n Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n In the biggest sign yet that the war could spread to a new front, Israel ordered the evacuation on Monday of 28 villages in a 2-kilometre-deep zone near the Lebanese border.<\/p>\n Netanyahu said Israelis should prepare for a long battle.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I have a message for Iran and Hezbollah, don\u2019t test us in the north. Don\u2019t make the same mistake you once made. Because today the price you will pay will be much heavier,\u201d he told the Israeli parliament on Monday.<\/p>\n Diplomatic efforts have concentrated on getting aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the sole route that is not controlled by Israel. Cairo said the Rafah crossing was not officially closed but was inoperable due to Israeli strikes on the Gaza side.<\/p>\n On the military front, the US has deployed two aircraft carriers and their supporting ships to the eastern Mediterranean since the attacks on Israel. The ships were meant as a deterrent to ensure the conflict did not spread, US officials said.<\/p>\n The top US general overseeing American forces in the Middle East, Central Command chief Army General Michael \u201cErik\u201d Kurilla, made an unannounced trip to Israel on Tuesday, saying he hoped to ensure its military has what it needs.<\/p>\n As Israel masses troops on Gaza\u2019s border, it has told more than a million people in the northern half of the enclave to flee to the southern half for their safety, even though Hamas has told them to stay put.<\/p>\n While tens of thousands have fled south, the United Nations says there is no way to move so many people without causing a humanitarian catastrophe.<\/p>\n The United Nations says a million Gazans have already been driven from their homes. Power is out, sanitary water is scarce and fuel for hospital emergency generators is running low.<\/p>\n Russian President Vladimir Putin told Netanyahu on Monday that Moscow wanted to help prevent a humanitarian disaster. A Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire failed to get the minimum nine votes needed in the 15-member body on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Iran warns of \u2018long-term war\u2019<\/h3>\n
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US general visits Israel<\/h3>\n