Biden Says U.S. Will Support Israel against Hamas, Condemns Palestinian Group

Reuters

18:06 JST, October 18, 2023

TEL AVIV, Oct 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Washington would provide Israel with everything it needed to defend itself as it wages war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Biden, who landed in Israel and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early on Wednesday, said Hamas was worse than Islamic State for its killings of Israeli civilians in a surprise attack on Oct. 7 which sparked the latest Israel-Palestinian violence.

He said he was “sad and outraged” by an explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday which Hamas said killed hundreds of people, but added that it seemed the “other team” was responsible, in reference to Palestinian militants.

Biden said 31 Americans were among the more than 1,300 Israelis killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.