Israel-Hamas war: What you need to know as Biden meets Netanyahu after deadly Gaza hospital blast

• United States President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday (Oct 18) in the wake of a blast at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in Gaza that has left hundreds dead. Health authorities in the Palestinian enclave put the death toll at between 200 and 300 while militant group Hamas said 500 died.
• Biden landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport at about 11am local time and was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the tarmac.
• The blast at the hospital marks the bloodiest single incident in Gaza during the current cycle of violence, which kicked off with Hamas' surprise Oct 7 cross-border attack against communities in southern Israel in which at least 1,300 people died.
• Palestinian officials say the cause was an Israeli airstrike, but Israel's military says it has "evidence" that a misfired Palestinian rocket was to blame.
• Biden backed Israel's account, adding that Hamas had brought "only suffering". "I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday. And based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team," he said.
• Russia's foreign ministry called on Israel to prove that it was not involved in the incident. "Please be so kind as to provide satellite images, and it would be nice if American partners did it," a spokesperson said.

• The Israeli military urged Gaza City residents to relocate southward "for their protection", saying on social media that there was a "humanitarian zone" with aid available in Al-Mawasi, 28km down the coast.
• Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that he would not allow any mass influx of refugees from Gaza as it would set a precedent for "the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan". He also blamed Israel's airstrikes on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for the failure to get aid to the 2.4 million people in Gaza.

WIDESPREAD CONDEMNATION

• The hospital blast has led to rapid and widespread international condemnation, and violent protests including in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, outside of Israel's embassies in Turkey and Jordan, and near the US embassy in Lebanon.
• At an urgent meeting with local officials, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the blast an "ugly massacre that cannot be tolerated or allowed to pass without accountability".
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Hamas' attacks on Israel did not justify the "collective punishment" of Palestinians, and called for an immediate ceasefire to "ease the epic human suffering we are witnessing".
• World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation as "spiralling out of control", while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "there is no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians".
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the blast was a "tragedy" and showed the need to bring the conflict to an end. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a comprehensive investigation of the incident, saying that he was "horrified by the images of the explosion".
• A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said: "China is shocked by and strongly condemns the attack on the hospital in Gaza, which has caused massive casualties." China is calling for an "immediate ceasefire and cessation of hostilities", the spokesperson added.