Biden's meeting with Arab leaders cancelled after hospital blast

Following the blast at Gaza's Al Ahli hospital, a meeting between Joe Biden and Arab leaders – including Palestine's Mahmoud Abbas – was cancelled, BBC reports.

Biden had been due to head to Jordan after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; there he would've met King Abdullah of Jordan, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and Abbas.

Late last night, though, Jordan's foreign minister said the meeting could only be held when the parties could agree to end the "war and the massacres against Palestinians", blaming Israel for the hospital blast.

The Israeli military says the blast was caused by a rocket belonging to another group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second biggest militant group in the Gaza Strip.

In a tweet, Biden said he was "outraged and deeply saddened" by the blast - and directed his national security team to "continue gathering information about what exactly happened."

/KN/