Jordan cancels President Biden meeting after Gaza hospital explosion kills hundreds

A planned four-party summit in Jordan with President Joe Biden has been postponed until further notice, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told Jordanian outlet Roya News, in response to a Gaza hospital blast that killed hundreds. 

Following his visit to Israel on Wednesday, Biden was due to meet with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in Amman to discuss the Gaza crisis. Earlier Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly withdrew from the summit in protest following a deadly explosion at a Gaza City hospital that Hamas blamed on Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said a failed rocket launch from Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad caused the blast. 

Hamas officials said at least 300 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City around 9:30 pm local time. 

A Hamas statement said the airstrike that hit Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital "left  hundreds of casualties, most of them displaced families, patients, children and women." 

The Israel Defense Forces denied responsibility and said a failed rocket launch from the militant group Islamic Jihad, not an Israeli airstrike, caused the deadly explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. “An enemy rocket barrage was carried out toward Israel, which passed through the vicinity of the hospital when it was hit,” the IDF said in a statement. “According to intelligence information from several sources, the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is responsible for the failed shooting that hit the hospital.”

Joe Biden is in the air and on his way to Israel.