The White House said President Joe Biden will address the nation on Thursday to update Americans on the US response to Hamas attacks.
The Oval Office speech comes a day after Biden’s high-level visit to Israel, where he urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow aid from Egypt into Gaza for Palestinian civilians suffering from Israeli air strikes. Pressure was applied.
In a rare move, Biden spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One and told them that he had spoken by phone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a “candid conversation” and that al-Sisi had opened the closed Rafah crossing gate. Had agreed to open. 20 trucks will be allowed to deliver aid to southern Gaza.
He said, “I came to accomplish something – I accomplished it.”
They’re going to be patching the road – they’re going to have to fill potholes for trucks to pass,” he said. “Expect it to take about eight hours tomorrow. So, nothing might happen until Friday… maybe.”
Asked what he told Israeli officials, Biden said, “I was very clear about the need to support getting humanitarian aid to Gaza, to get it to Gaza, and to do it quickly.”
He added, “I got no pushback, literally none. … Let me say it again, I got no pushback.”
Biden said, “Look, Israel has suffered terribly, but you know, the truth is, if they have the opportunity to relieve the suffering of people who have no place to go, So they’ll stay there, that’s what they should do.” , “And if they don’t do that, they will be held accountable in ways that may be unfair.”
Before leaving for Israel, questions were raised about whether making the trip was worth the physical and political risks, as Biden himself raised on Wednesday.
“Let me choose my words here. A lot of people didn’t think we could do it,” he said, apparently referring to aid deliveries to Gaza. “And a lot of people don’t want to be associated with failure.”
“A lot of people don’t want to be associated with failure. And obviously there was a long, long, hour or more discussion about what should go, because if we had gone and it had failed then, you know That the United States has failed, that Biden’s presidency has failed, et cetera, etc., which would be legitimate criticisms.”
Saying that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah were in a “difficult position,” Biden added, “If we don’t do this and don’t do that we’re putting them all in a difficult position . It was bound to happen I think, we either took all the blame on ourselves or didn’t hold anyone else accountable, or it was done. And I thought it was worth taking the chance to get it done.”