By Ben
Gittleson, WASHINGTON US
US President, Joe Biden, will address to the nation Thursday to update Americans on the U.S. response to the Hamas attacks, the White House said.
The 8 p.m. ET Oval Office
speech comes a day after Biden's high-stakes visit to Israel where
he pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow aid from Egypt into Gaza
for Palestinian civilians reeling from Israel airstrikes.
In a rare move, Biden spoke to
reporters aboard Air Force One, telling them he had been on the phone with
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in "blunt negotiation" and
that El-Sisi had agreed to open the closed Rafah crossing gate in southern Gaza to allow
up to 20 trucks with aid through.
"I came to get something
done -- I got it done," he said.
"They're going to patch
the road -- they have to fill in the potholes for the trucks to get
through," he said. "Expect that to take about eight hours
tomorrow.So, there may be nothing rolling through … probably until
Friday."
Asked about what he told
Israeli officials, Biden said, "I was very blunt about the need to support
getting humanitarian aid to Gaza, get it to Gaza and do it quickly."
He added, "I got no
pushback, virtually none. ... Let me say it again, I got no pushback."
"Look, Israel has been
badly victimized, but you know, the truth is that if they have an opportunity
to relieve suffering of people who are, have nowhere to go, they're gonna be,
it's what they should do," Biden said. "And if they don't, they'll be
held accountable in ways that may be unfair."
Before he left for Israel,
questions were raised about whether making the trip was worth the physical and
political risk, something Biden brought up himself Wednesday.
"Let me choose my words
here. Not many people thought that we could get this done," he said,
apparently referring to the delivery of aid to Gaza. "And not many people
want to be associated with failure."
"Not many people want to
be associated with failure. And there was quite frankly a -- a lengthy,
lengthy, hour or more discussion about whether to go, because had we gone and
this failed then, you know the United States failed, Biden's presidency failed,
et cetera, which would be legitimate criticism."
Saying Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah were in a "tough
spot," Biden continued, "We're putting all of them in a tough
situation, if we didn't get this done and so. It had to be in my view, we
either, either took all the blame or not to put anyone else on the spot, or get
it done. And I thought it was worth taking the chance to get it done."
No comments:
Post a Comment