Joe Biden offered strong US support for Israel on Saturday from the White House, after the American ally was hit with a suprise assault on the country from Palestinian militants from Gaza.
“The United States stands with Israel,” Mr Biden said. “We will never fail to have their back. We’ll make sure they have the help their citizens need and they can continue to defend themselves.”
The president added the attacks were “unconscionable” and a “terrible tragedy on a human level.”
He also warned regional powers not to exploit the fighting and touch off a broader conflict.
“This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks seeking advantage,” Mr Biden said. “The world is watching.”
The White House said Mr Biden spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday and condemned the “appalling Hamas terrorist attacks.”
“I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel,” President Biden said in a White House statement on Saturday morning. “Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people.”
In a surprise attack early on Saturday, Hamas militants entered several Israeli towns and military bases, kidnapping civilians and soldiers as hostages.
Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif said in a rare public statement that 5,000 rockets had been fired into Israel to begin what it called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.”
Fellow US officials joined in their condemnation of the Hamas offensive.
“We stand in solidarity with the government and people of Israel, and extend our condolences for the Israeli lives lost in these attacks,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Saturday. “We will remain in close contact with our Israeli partners. The United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself.”
World leaders also spoke out against the attack and called for fighting to end.
“My condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack. We have faith that order will be restored and terrorists will be defeated,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X. “Terror should have no place in the world, because it is always a crime, not just against a specific country or this terror’s victims, but against humanity in general and our entire world.”
The Russian foreign ministry said it was in contact with Israel, Palestine, and Arab nations, and called for a ceasefire.
The fighting in Israel and Gaza has killed at least 100 Israelis, according to emergency medical groups, and at least 198 Palestinians, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
US Republican presidential candidates, who could be in a position to deal with the fallout from today’s fighting come 2025, also weighed in.
Donald Trump condemned the Hamas operation and claimed without evidence the US had helped fund them.
“These Hamas attacks are a disgrace and Israel has every right to defend itself with overwhelming force,” Mr Trump said in a statement. “Sadly, American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks, which many reports are saying came from the Biden Administration. We brought so much peace to the Middle East through the Abraham Accords, only to see Biden whittle it away at a far more rapid pace than anyone thought possible.”
During a campaign stop in Iowa, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said Israel has a duty to respond with “overwhelming force.”
“Today, America stands with Israel against the terrorist attacks that are being perpetrated by Hamas, who is backed by Iran and unfortunately funded by this American president with what he’s done to Iran,” Mr DeSantis said. “It’s a disgrace and we all need to be united to say to Israel that not only do they have a right to defend themselves, they have a duty to respond to these terrorists with overwhelming force.”
The comments from Mr Trump and the Florida governor are a seeming reference to a decision in August from the Biden administration to issue a waiver allowing $6bn in frozen Iranian oil profits to be released for use in humanitarian purchases, in exchange for the release of five detained Americans in the country.
Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed on Saturday to exact a “huge price” from Hamas in response to the attacks and called up reservists as well as regular armed forces as Israel launched retaliatory strikes in Gaza.
The surprise attack marks a major intelligence failure for Israel, which maintains round-the-clock surveillance on the 42km-long Gaza Strip, from which it withdrew forces in 2005.
The assault comes almost exactly 50 years to the day since the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, and could have widespread impacts on civilian lives in Israel and Palestine, internal politics in Israel, and attempts to negotiate a long-term solution to the violence of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The fighting comes as the US was trying to negotiate a landmark normalisation deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Saudi Arabia issued a statement on Saturday calling for “the immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides”.
The statement added that “the kingdom is reminded of its repeated warnings of the danger of an explosive situation as a result of the continued occupation and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their rights”.
