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Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday to give support and address humanitarian concerns
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden will visit Israel during wartime to hear in person about its strategy as its conflict with Hamas intensifies, and to press for humanitarian relief for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In a snap call with reporters on Monday night, John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, outlined Biden’s plan for a one-day visit on Wednesday to Tel Aviv, where he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president will also head to Amman, Jordan, where he meet with King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.
“The president will reaffirm our solidarity with Israel and he will look forward to getting an update from Israeli officials about about their strategy and the pace of their military operations and certainly expect to hear from Israel what they believe they need to continue to defend their people,” Kirby said.
Since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,300 Israelis, wounding thousands and taking 200 captive, Biden has been unstinting in his support for Israel but has indicated concern that Israel has yet to set parameters for the counterattack, other than destroying Hamas. Israeli airstrikes have killed some 2,750 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry.
“We must not lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas’s appalling attacks, and are suffering as a result of them,” Biden said in a post Sunday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He has also said it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to reoccupy Gaza.
It is rare for a president to visit a country at war when U.S. troops are not involved, though this will be Biden’s second such trip this year, after traveling to Ukraine in February. Rockets fired from Gaza, and to a lesser extent from Lebanon, continue to rain down in Israel. Hours before Kirby’s announcement there were sirens warning of potential attacks on Tel Aviv, and Israel is preparing a large-scale ground invasion of Gaza. But Kirby said the U.S. was assured that Biden’s security would be safeguarded.
“We are not dictating military terms and operational mandates to the Israeli military,” Kirby said. “I don’t know how much more clear I can make that. We’re not dictating terms to them. And we wouldn’t make a trip, obviously, if we did not believe that the proper security parameters would be in place.”
A military analyst told The New York Times that Israel would be unlikely to launch a ground invasion while the U.S. president was in the country.
“The ground operation is going to have lots of casualties on both sides,” Miri Eisin, a former senior military officer and the director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University in Israel, told the Times. “You don’t want to do that when the U.S. president is here.”
Kirby emphasized that a key component of Biden’s trip would be dedicated to getting relief to the Palestinians currently trapped within Gaza, whose borders with Israel and Egypt are shut down, and where supplies are largely cut off. The Biden Administration pressured Israel into reopening the water supply to the coastal territory.
“He will certainly reiterate that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” Kirby said. “And he’ll discuss again the humanitarian needs of all civilians in Gaza.”
Kirby repeated that Biden believed Israel should, as a fellow democracy, abide by the laws of war, but he said it was not the United States’ place to press Israel on how it should conduct a military operation.
“We are not putting conditions on the military systems that we are providing to Israel,” Kirby said. “They have a right to defend themselves. They have a right to go after this terrorist threat. And we’re going to continue to do everything we can to help them do that. As I said earlier, unlike Hamas the United States and Israel are vibrant democracies believe in respect for the innocent life, we ascribe to the law of armed conflict, and that will continue to be our mutual expectations going forward.”
Separately, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said she would be leading a delegation to Israel on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Jewish Democrat who is the majority leader, this week led a bipartisan delegation to Israel, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also traveled to the country twice since Hamas’ invasion.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.