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| EFE |
President Joe Biden is considering traveling to Israel in the coming days, although the trip is not imminent, according to a senior government official.
Biden has strongly proclaimed his support for Israel, and a visit to the country would be an opportunity for him to demonstrate his backing. However, this decision comes amid heightened concerns that an Israeli invasion of Gaza could trigger a larger war with devastating humanitarian consequences.
The official spoke with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations regarding a potential presidential trip.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already toured the Middle East in the past week in an attempt to prevent the conflict with Hamas from evolving into a regional conflict.
Biden has also made his most significant attempt to date to restrain Israel following the October 7th Hamas attack, which resulted in over 1,300 casualties, including at least 30 Americans. In an interview aired on Sunday on the "60 Minutes" program on CBS, Biden warned that Israel should not reoccupy Gaza.
"I think it would be a big mistake," Biden said. "Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas, and the extremist elements of Hamas do not represent the entire Palestinian people. I think it would be a mistake for Israel to reoccupy Gaza."
However, he added, "eliminating extremists is a necessary requirement."
Biden and his government officials have refrained from criticizing Israel for the bombings that have claimed civilian lives in Gaza. Nevertheless, they have called on Israel, Egypt, and other countries to allow the entry of humanitarian aid and supplies into the conflict zone.
"I trust that Israel will act under the rules of war," Biden stated during the interview. "There are standards by which democratic institutions and countries are governed. And I trust that there will be the capability for innocent people in Gaza to access medicines, food, and water."
Blinken, on the other hand, heard criticism of Israel's military operation from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Cairo, he moved on to Jordan and planned to return to Israel on Monday, bringing feedback from a series of meetings with leaders from across the Arab world.
El-Sisi told Blinken that Israel's operation in Gaza has exceeded the right to self-defense and has become a collective punishment, according to Egyptian media reports.
Before leaving Egypt, Blinken told reporters that "Israel has the right, and indeed the obligation, to defend itself against these attacks by Hamas and to try to do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen again."
Aware of the potential human cost in Gaza, Blinken said that "the way in which Israel does this is important. It must be done in a way that affirms the shared values we have for human life and dignity, taking all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians."
Earlier on Sunday, the U.S. official met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh after holding talks with leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority.
Blinken said that in each meeting with Arab leaders, he witnessed a shared vision that "we have to do everything we can to ensure that this does not spread to other places, a shared vision to safeguard innocent lives, a shared vision to provide assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza who need it, and we are working a lot on that."
Furthermore, the White House announced the appointment of David Satterfield, the former ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey, to lead U.S. initiatives to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people throughout the Middle East. Satterfield is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday.
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