Gaza crisis requires diplomatic genius... is anyone up to it?

JOE BIDEN showed solidarity with Israel when he blamed the devastating blast at a Gaza hospital on Hamas during his visit to the country.

- Esther Krakue

As stated during his press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US President was there "for the people of Israel, and for the people of the world, to know where the United States stands". And he didn't waste any time in doing just that.

Mr Biden backed Israel's account of the bombing of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday, for which both sides of the conflict denied responsibility. He also reiterated his condemnation Hamas, describing the terrorist organisation as worse than ISIS for the barbarity of their actions. There is no ambiguity in Biden's position of However, his work has only just begun.

Mr Biden's planned meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been cancelled after the hospital tragedy, all but derailing the President's hope for a peacekeeping mission.

And the optics of this stalemate cannot be ignored.

Mr Biden's failure to meet with Abbas or any Palestinian official, while meeting Israelis on their soil, will undoubtedly undermine the President's diplomatic message and draw criticism at home and abroad.