Biden’s summit meeting with Arab leaders canceled by Jordan

WASHINGTON — Jordan canceled a planned summit on Wednesday between President Joe Biden and the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, hours after an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip killed hundreds of people.

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Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, told public broadcaster al-Mamlaka that the summit between the four countries had been scrapped. The announcement came as Biden boarded Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base shortly before 5:45 p.m. EDT as he prepared to visit Israel, The Washington Post reported.

“There is no point in doing anything at this time other than stopping this war,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Al Jazeera Arabic early Wednesday, according to CNN. “There is no benefit to anyone in holding a summit at this time.”

Biden did not comment as he boarded the aircraft for his flight to Tel Aviv.

After visiting Israel, Biden had been scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Amman, Jordan, The Associated Press reported.

The summit, where the leaders were to discuss the Israel-Hamas was scheduled in Amman, Jordan.

“(Abbas) is very angry after the news of the Israeli massacre at the hospital in Gaza, and he decided to immediately return to Ramallah,” the official, who requested anonymity, told the AP.

An airstrike at Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, where thousands of civilians had been sheltering, killed hundreds of people, The New York Times reported.

The Gazan health authorities said the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike, while the Israel Defense Forces said it was caused by a rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group based in Gaza, that malfunctioned after launching, according to the newspaper.

Neither claim could be verified, the Times reported.