President Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced early Tuesday morning from Tel Aviv.

The visit will bring immense logistical and security challenges as the president enters an active war zone in a conflict that has killed more than 4,000 Israelis and Palestinians and displaced over 1 million people from Gaza.

Mr Biden has repeatedly voiced strong support for Israel since the outbreak of war earlier this month.

“The United States stands with Israel,” Mr Biden said the day Hamas launched a brutal suprise attack on Israel. “We will never fail to have their back. We’ll make sure they have the help their citizens need and they can continue to defend themselves.”

The president added the attacks were “unconscionable” and a “terrible tragedy on a human level.”

In recent days, as the Israeli bombardment on the blockaded Palestinian enclave has killed and displaced numerous civilians, Mr Biden has also warned the US ally of re-occupying the Gaza Strip.

“I think it’d be a big mistake,” he told60 Minutes in a recent interview. “Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that … it would be a mistake … for Israel to occupy … Gaza again.”

The World Health Organization has warned that Gaza is less than 24 hours away from a humanitarian “catastrophe,” as food, water, fuel and medical capacity dwindles.

Israel’s defence minister vowed to impose a “full siege” on Gaza, about half of whose population is under the age of 18.

“I ordered a full siege on the Gaza Strip,” Yoav Gallant has said of the IDF strategy. “No power, no food, no gas, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

Read More