Joe Biden considering Israel visit after invitation from Netanyahu
US President Joe Biden is weighing up a visit to Israel, a senior administration official said, after the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended an invitation.
No final decision has yet been made, the official added, but a trip would represent a strong show of support for Israel following the brutal attack by Hamas earlier this month.
Mr Netanyahu made the offer to the president during a recent phone call, Israeli officials said, though the prime minister’s office did not comment.
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The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been travelling around the Middle East in the aftermath of the deadly incursion in an effort to prevent the conflict from escalating.
At least 30 American citizens were among the 1,400 people who were killed when Hamas attacked a music festival and raided kibbutzim on October 7.
Israel has retaliated with a devastating barrage of airstrikes on Gaza, and its military said it had killed the mastermind behind two of the kibbutz massacres yesterday.
Thousands of residents in the enclave have also been killed by Israeli missiles, and a major ground offensive appears imminent as soldiers line up on the border.
Mr Biden has expressed his support for Israel and has not criticised the bombing campaign, but the president did urge restraint in a TV interview on Sunday.
Speaking to CBS News, he said moves to reoccupy Gaza would be a ‘big mistake’.
He added: ‘Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas, and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people.
‘And I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again.’
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II at Downing Street yesterday evening.
Number 10 said he would hold further talks with other world leaders and international partners as focus shifts to stopping the war growing to involve the wider region.
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