WASHINGTON — President Biden departed Washington Tuesday for a trip to Israel to show support for the Jewish state in its conflict with the terrorist group Hamas — just hours after a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital scrambled the mission.
The White House disclosed moments after Biden boarded Air Force One that he would cancel a planned stop in Jordan that was set to follow meetings in Israel on Wednesday.
A mob reportedly attempted to storm the Israeli embassy in Amman late Tuesday — hours before Biden was set to visit — after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas backed out of meeting Biden in Amman.
Biden was also scheduled to meet with Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
“After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sisi of Egypt,” the White House said in a statement.
“The President sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. He looks forward to consulting in person with these leaders soon, and agreed to remain regularly and directly engaged with each of them over the coming days.”
Hamas, which ruled Gaza, blamed Israel for a hospital explosion and said that more than 500 people had died at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
The region has been pounded by Israeli airstrikes for more than a week in response to Hamas’ slaughter of 1,300 people — including at least 30 Americans in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israeli authorities said preliminary evidence, backed by video footage indicated that the tragedy was caused by a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas.
“The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted.
“Those who brutally murdered our children also murder their own children.”
Biden’s visit to Israel was intended “to demonstrate his steadfast support for Israel in the face of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack and to consult on next steps,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
The Jordan leg of the one-day trip was supposed to be used to “reiterate that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination and discuss the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza,” Jean-Pierre added.
Biden’s visit comes as thousands of US citizens attempt to evacuate both Israel and Gaza and as an unknown number of Americans remain among at least 200 hostages abducted by Hamas in its savage attack.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have also made recent trips to Israel — with Schumer telling The Post he collected a “long extensive list” of Israeli aid requests that he wants approved by Congress “as quickly as possible.”