Jordan cancels summit with Biden after Israel's massacre in Gaza
People are assisted at Shifa Hospital after an Israeli airstrike hit the nearby Al-Ahli Hospital, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine, Oct. 17, 2023. (Reuters Photo)


The summit between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and U.S. President Joe Biden was canceled after Israel's inhumane airstrike on a hospital in Gaza, in which over 500 people were killed late Tuesday.

Jordan has canceled the summit it was to host in Amman on Wednesday with Biden and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss the situation in Gaza, the country's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

Abbas quickly canceled a meeting with Biden after the strike, and international leaders condemned the bombing.

Biden was expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, then fly to Amman, to meet Jordan's king, the Egyptian president and Abbas.

Failure to meet with Abbas or any Palestinian official, while meeting Israelis on their soil, may undermine Biden's other goals of calming tensions in the region and shoring up humanitarian efforts for Gaza.