President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
"He's coming here at a critical moment for Israel, for the region and for the world," Blinken announced during a brief press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office appeared to deny reports of a humanitarian corridor that would allow the passage of foreign nationals out of the Gaza Strip via Egypt's Rafah crossing. Some 600 American passport holders, as well as an unconfirmed number of other foreign nationals, are stuck in the blockaded enclave as it endures fierce Israeli bombardment, NBC News reports.
"There is currently no cease-fire and humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the expulsion of foreigners," Netanyahu's office said in a Google-translated statement.
Biden warned that an Israeli re-occupation of Gaza would be a "big mistake" in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes." He also said that the Palestinian militant group Hamas should be eliminated entirely, but that "there must be a path to a Palestinian state."
The White House has so far fully supported what it says is "Israel's right to defend itself." Israel is on its 10th day of an aerial bombardment campaign of the Gaza Strip, over which it has ordered a total siege, cutting off water, food and electricity supplies to a population of 2 million people.
The siege, which has been criticized by human rights groups for breaking humanitarian law, comes in response to a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The death toll from the conflict so far has risen to at least 1,400 people killed in Israel and nearly 2,700 people killed in Gaza.
Amid ongoing conflict, the presidents of Russia and Syria have urged an end to hostilities.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said its aid workers will no longer be able to continue humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip unless new supplies are allowed into the enclave.
Israel's military continued to urge residents to move from northern Gaza to the south as it pledged to counter Hamas with "an even greater force." The evacuation orders have been criticized by many humanitarian agencies.