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CNNW The July 3, 2024

This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. President biden arrived in israel hours after a devastating explosion in the courtyard of a Baptist Hospital in gaza, a deadly tragedy that the u. S. Is now asserting, the u. S. Believes israel is not responsible for. Rather, President Biden said earlier today, it was damage that the palestinians may have caused. The images emerging are devastating and the descriptions of the deadly aftermath are rather graphic. Heres what a volunteer who went to help clear the remains said. Translator i came at 8 00 a. M. As a Volunteer Thinking i would help with minor thing, but i was shocked to see unimaginable things like childrens corpses, elderly coralses, bodies scattered, intestines and many human bodies. The hamascontrolled Palestinian Health ministry immediat immediately blamed the Israeli Military and that accusation flew around the world, but after investigating the matter israel says that they have evidence that the cause of the blast was actually a failed Rocket Launch from Islamic Jihad and Islamic Militant group. Israeli Officials Say that the damage does not suggest it was from an israeli missile and earlier today a spokesman for the Israeli Defense forces saying that the failed rocket was caught live on al jazeera. They were broadcasting it live, and i have an image here of the launch, of the broadcast and this is a Screen Kacaption what they did and at 6 59 you see the al jazeera emblem and thats the rocket that actually fell into the hospital. The israelis also released audio of individuals whom they claim are with hamas discussing the incident and in the audio they acknowledge reports that it was Islamic Jihad who launched the rocket and that that failed rocket fell on or near the hospital. President biden today in tel aviv said that the intelligence he has seen matches with israeli intelligence. I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in gaza. Based on the information weve seen today it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a Terrorist Group from gaza. A sentiment by his own National Security council which issued this Statement Released this morning, quote, while we continue to collect information our Current Assessment based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open Source Information is that israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in gaza yesterday, unquote, but palestinian officials that it was israel and either way, their claims, their claims are the ones being believed by arab leaders and the arab street. Jordanian leaders and the palestinians canceled planned meetings with President Biden because of the hospital tragedy and the claims that leaders in gaza were making about it and those claims regardless of the facts have ignited protests on the streets across the arab world. Frustrations, no doubt also because of israels bombardment of gaza and frankly, israels very existence and President Bidens reaffirmation of u. S. Support of the jewish state. The president stressing the need for hamas to release all of the hundreds of hostages that they took. Let me assure you, for me as the american president theres no higher priority than the release and safe return of all these hostages. To those who are grieving a child, a parent, a house, a sibling, a friend, i know it feels like a black hole in the middle of your chest. You feel like youre being sucked into it. The anger, the questions of faith in your soul, staring at that empty chair sharing shiva and the first sabbath without them, and the everyday things and the small things that you miss the most. Another Priority Push during his visit to israel is for the u. S. To secure safe passage along the Southern Gaza border with egypt for supplies, for food, for water, for medicine, for fuel to get into gaza. The humanitarian crisis in gaza is getting worse and worse, and also for the civilians including some u. S. Citizens, Palestinian Americans and others desperately wanting to get out of gaza, but at this moment President Biden is on his way back to washington, d. C. And the Rafah Crossing remains closed and the crisis for innocent civilians in gaza right now is only growing more dire. Lets get right to Clarissa Ward in gaza and shes in ashkelon and the u. S. Confirmed theres, quote, no update on if and when any aid will start crossing from egypt into gaza or any innocent palestinianamericans and others can get out of gaza. What are you hearing from israeli officials . Thats right. The u. N. Basically saying no set timeline here, jake. We also heard today from the egyptian leader abdul fatah al sisi. He said this was because of shelling and strikes, israeli strikes near the Border Crossing and a cnn journalist did observe several explosions near the crossing during the day. The israelis have said echoing what President Biden has announced that they are now willing to allow aid through the Rafah Crossing provided that it does not get diverted to hamas. They said they will not open up any aid to come through this side of the border until all of the hostages are release, and we know theres been a flurry of diplomacy and desperate attempting to get dozens of trucks on the egyptian side of the border on Tuesday Morning to get some of that aid inside to the southern part of gaza where according to the u. N. Some 600,000 more people have arrived just in the past few days, but this is a very tricky, complex mechanism to put together because there are so many different parties involved and because the tensions are so high, because the strikes could continue and as you mentioned the Situation Inside Gaza growing more dire by the minute. Food running out, no water, no electricity and no real safe space for people to seek refuge and respite and No End In Sight to this crisis, jake. Clarissa, is the new information, Intelligence Being provided by israel on this Hospital Blast, is it moving the needle at all in the middle east . Obviously some of theyre releasing privately, some of it in public and is it having any impact at all on whats happened . Its not, jake, and i think there are a number of reasons for that. This has obviously become incredibly emotionally charged. We have seen this outpouring across the arab world and across the muslim world. People feel horrified when they see whats happening in gaza, and i dont think this has changed any minds and also the news is moving so quickly. The continued strikes today, the images of President Biden hugging israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the news that the u. S. Vetoed a u. N. Security Council Resolution to call for a humanitarian pause. This all kind of continues to pour fuel on the fire and then you compound that with the vast barrage of misinformation and disinformation that is really all pervasive across Social Media Platforms and that just factors and cycles in to the sense of outrage, the sense of indignation and no sense, i would say, at this stage that that is going to change, jake. Clarissa ward north of gaza in ashkelon, israel. Thank you very much. I want to bring in cnn anchor Kaitlan Collins in tel aviv. How much did President Biden put on the line, do you think, with his Strong Defense of israel . Not so much domestically in the u. S. , but internationally . Well, he certainly came to a region that was kind of seething, jake. They were on edge and angry over what was reported initially about that explosion that happened at that hospital in gaza that clarissa was just talking about there. You saw the idf come out and say it was not them and they did believe it was from a group emanating from gaza where the strike came from, and that is something that a lot of leaders in the area did not take the idf at their word and you did see that was one of the biggest statements that President Biden made in the few hours while he was on the ground in tel aviv that he did believe israels denials and he did believe they were not responsible and that isnt because he saw his own pentagon data. It had to do with Satellite Data and Satellite Data and open Source Information that helps them make that assessment. Its not this 100 , foolproof assessment and it was pretty clear cut on where the president stood today. The larger point all of this coming, jake is also seeing what the president was saying where he is expressing the full stop in solidarity with israel and you saw him saying it repeatedly today and talking that the United States is going to back israel up and there was a moment in his final remarks in tel aviv, jake, where he did offer a word of caution. He talked about 9 11 and what the u. S. Was feeling after 9 11 happened and saying that that is amplified even here. This is what he said. You cant look at what has happened here to your mothers, your fathers, grandparents, sons, daughters, children, babies and not scream out for justice. Justice must be done. But i caution that while you feel outrage dont be consumed by it. After 9 11 we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice, we also made mistakes. Saying there that the United States made mistakes following 9 11, i should note, jake that i talked to the u. S. Ambassador to israel or the israeli ambassador to the u. S. About that comment and they talked about how there is the sense of palpable anger and obviously people want to see a response. Of course, that response is expected to come in the form of a ground invasion, but the scale of what that looks like, of course, remains to be seen. I was talking about that same exact issue where general petraeus and the idea of whether waiting and strategizing is smarterer than just reacting and punching back immediately. Its a difficult one to discuss. President biden was also also goinging to talk to egypt, jordan and the west bank and that was supposed to be a crucial part of this trip. What happens after israel gets rid of hamas assuming this does happen is also a very important part of this equation and that cant really be done without the cooperation, if not the leadership of abbas and the leaders of egypt and jordan. Yeah. Or the humanitarian aid. That was one of the biggest tangible achievements that President Biden walked away with and there werent a lot of them during this trip and part of it was israel allowing the humanitarian aid from egypt into gaza. They havent issued full confirmation saying yes, this is the agreement and thery questions about the timing of that. That was something that the white house had hoped they were going to figure out during this trip when President Biden was meeting face to face with the president of egypt and with the leader of jordan and with these leaders in rell al life anden sd hes settling for a phone call and that is remarkable israel to have those other lightly World Leaders to decline to meet with him and it is certainly a setback for the white house and so it factors into what that humanitarian aid going into gaza is going to look like if theyll sepp up a safe zone corridor. The white house had tough questions for netanyahu about that plan. They did not reveal what those questions were publicly, but certainly having that conversation with these other World Leaders who have been more critical and not outright condemning hamas like weve seen other nations do and that is all something that President Biden is still a challenge hes taking place to the United States tonight. Especially if that visit, that summit because of what happened at the hospital. If that incident was was because of an Islamic Jihad and to not have the israelis, to have that cancel, Kaitlan Collins in tel aviv. Im going to talk to a senior Israeli Government official next and we want to show you this scene inside the Canon House Office building near the u. S. Capitol. Protesters with several jewishamerican organizations are demonstrating in support of a ceasefire in the israelhamas war. Dozens of demonstrators have been arrested in the past hour, but as you can see dozens continue to stage a sitin. Were back in a moment. A top Israeli Military official warned Israeli Soldiers today that the war with hamas, quote, will not be short especially if any other country gets involved. Meanwhile, after the u. S. Assessed that israel is, quote, not responsible for the Gaza Hospital blast a senior United Nations official called for an independent investigation while other countries such as south africa are not buying israels claim that israel is now responsible and has accused israel of war crimes. Joining us now is spokesperson elan levy. I spoke with peter lerner and he told me last night that israeli officials came to the conclusion that the idf was not responsible that the final determination and evidence was presented several hours after the blast, and one of the questions i had was doesnt the idf know where it is age its munitions and where theyre landing . Why did it take that long to Deafen Tivoli determine what happened . Thank you for having me on the show, jake. As time moves on its clear that what happened last night is not a murder mystery, but it is an open and shut case and it is an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired from the gaza strip and landed in that hospital. The hospital is not destroyed as the initial claims came out of hamas and as the Media Parroted immediately. When such an allegation is made the idf does exactly what you would expect of the professional of a professional army of a Democratic State which is the Spokespersons Office needs toec which the allegations and needs to bring all of the evidence instead of just issuing a Blanket Denial and the only reason that the International Media has been trapped in this he said she said over the last 24 hours is that hamas, which is as bad as isis if not worse, made an outrageous allegation immediately and israel said, look, we need a few hours in order to issue a preliminary investigation and that evidence now is overwhelming that what took place yesterday was a horrific war crime perpetrated by palestinian Islamic Jihad that were trying to fire a rocket at our people to kill us and they ended up murdering their own. The Prime Ministers Office Confirmed with cnn that israel will allow humanitarian aid into gaza from egypt, but it will not allow supplies into gaza from israels territory until hamas releases all hostages, and that effectively punishes all palestinians even those wounded and sick and desperate because of hamas even though your government acknowledges that palestinians in many cases are victims of hamas. Why not let supplies in to help the people that are suffering because of hamas . At the moment, israel is in a state of war with hamas inside the gaza strip. Its a war that we were dragged in as a result of the October 7th Massacre and the gruesome brutalities that are only just beginning to come to light. Now its important to understand what happened in israels crossings. The erez crossing, for example, so many palestinian workers went to work every day was completely destroyed by the hamas death squads when they invaded on the m morning of the 7th Of October and when they went door to door, massacring and torturing and murdering people and israel made it very clear we are at war with hamas and we therefore will not allow our crossings to be used in order to conduct trade and Business As Usual while theyre holding 200 our people, men, women, children, elderly, children in captivity. We have no problem for egypt in order to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of gaza, and we want humanitarian aid to reach the people of gaza in the safe zo

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