President Joe Biden is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days but no travel has been finalised as its military is carrying out daily bombardments of the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, according to a senior US administration official.
The trip would come amid growing fears that a looming Israeli move into Gaza could spark a wider war with devastating humanitarian consequences. The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has already killed at least 2,750 Palestinians.
And Biden’s presence could be seen as a provocative move by Iran, or potentially viewed as tone-deaf by Arab nations as civilian casualties mount in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already been travelling around the Middle East this past week trying to prevent the war with Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, from igniting a broader regional conflict.
The official could not publicly discuss internal deliberations about the potential presidential travel and spoke on Sunday to The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity.
Biden also made his strongest public statements yet to restrain Israel after the October 7 attacks by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel, including at least 30 US citizens, warning in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday that Israel should not reoccupy Gaza.
“I think it’d be a big mistake,” Biden said. “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.”
Israel left Gaza in 2005; Hamas won the elections the next year.
Still, Biden said, “taking out the extremists … is a necessary requirement”.
Biden and his administration have refused to criticise Israel or its bombing campaign that has killed civilians in Gaza.