OCTOBER 20 -- US president Joe Biden told Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the hospital strike on Gaza seemed to have been "done by the other team”.

"Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden told Netanyahu shortly after arriving in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

A week ago, the US president, referring to reports from Israel about beheaded children and citing several media reports of beheadings, said: "I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”

But neither Biden nor the administration had seen pictures or confirmed reports of children or infants beheaded by Hamas.

The White House clarified that Biden was repeating claims made by a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It marks another instance when Biden’s off-script comments, including on Taiwan and Russia, had to be clarified by his staff.

So, was Biden’s "done by the other team” another instance of repeating claims made by Netanyahu? Did the president jump to conclusion, which British foreign minister James Cleverly urged not to?

Cleverly had said that too many people jumped to conclusions around the blast at a hospital in Gaza and called for "cool heads” to prevail.

"Wait for the facts, report them clearly and accurately. Cool heads must prevail,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

His prime minister, Rishi Sunak has also urged British MPs not to rush to judgment over the blast, after repeatedly being urged by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, to remind Israel to respect international law.

Sunak said British intelligence was working at pace to analyse evidence and "to get to the bottom” of the blast that killed hundreds of civilians.

Biden’s "done by the other team” comment opened his visit to Israel where he vowed to show the world that the US stood in solidarity with the Jewish people.

He should have shown solidarity with the civilian population — the thousands of children and women who are the victims of the war when they are protected persons under international law.

It should not be about the "other team” who did it. It should be about "both teams” putting a stop to the massacre.

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.