US President Joe Biden made a major verbal gaffe while announcing Washington’s plans to carry out a first military airdrop of vital supplies into Gaza on Friday – confusing the Palestinian enclave with Ukraine.
The US leader's remarks came a day after Gaza health authorities accused Israeli forces of killing more than 100 people who tried to reach a relief convoy.
“In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing airdrops of additional food and supplies into Ukraine and seek to continue to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance,” Biden said.
Later in his prepared remarks, Biden noted that “aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now,” and White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also clarified that Biden “was referring to Gaza” when he said Ukraine.
The 81-year-old's latest mental stumble comes just days after he underwent his annual physical exam, with doctors saying he was healthy enough and fully “fit for duty,” even though the medical examination did not include any cognitive tests.
Critics have long blasted the US administration for an alleged lack of transparency on Biden’s health, claiming that the president is not mentally fit to hold office – especially after a recent prosecutor’s report suggested that he was too elderly and befuddled to stand trial.
Earlier this week, Biden referred to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as the “head of Russia” and seemingly failed to remember the name of his former boss, Barack Obama. On Monday evening, Biden also took his campaign message to a TV audience, but mistakenly dated his 2024 agenda to four years ago.
“The president doesn’t need a cognitive test,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted on Wednesday.