OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
5:08 PM – Tuesday, October 17, 2023
President Joe Biden was scheduled to visit Amman, the capital of Jordan, in order to meet with regional leaders to discuss the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict. However, Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced that the meetings are now canceled, the Times of Israel reported.
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Biden was scheduled to have meetings with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Sissi, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
However, on Tuesday, Safadi announced that the summit would be called off altogether.
“There is no point in doing anything at this time other than stopping this war,” Safadi said on Al Jazeera Arabic early Wednesday morning. “There is no benefit to anyone in holding a summit at this time.”
According to a senior Palestinian official, Abbas dropped plans to participate in the meeting.
He was set to join alongside King Abdullah II and Sissi at the summit where they would speak with Biden regarding the recent conflict.
Additionally, the senior Palestinian official mentioned on Tuesday that Abbas withdrew his scheduled participation to protest a falsely-reported “Israeli strike” on a hospital in Gaza. However, it was discovered that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, working alongside Hamas, had misfired a barrage of rockets that claimed the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, at Gaza’s Baptist Hospital.
Hamas, which is in control of the area, has still consistently blamed the Israelis.
Israel maintained that the explosions were due to a rocket misfire by Palestinian Islamic Jihad working alongside Hamas and that the IDF had no involvement in the hospital’s destruction whatsoever.
The decision to cancel the summit came following the riot that occurred at the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan, with video footage portraying pro-Palestine protestors outside of the complex.
The video footage depicts smoke and police sirens, although it remains unknown whether anyone had tried to break into the complex. It also remains unclear what role the riot may have played in the decision to cancel the meetings with Biden.
The White House posted a statement soon after Biden boarded Air Force One en route to Israel.
“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,” the White House official said.
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By: OAN
