US President Joe Biden on Saturday said that the Hamas is using innocent Gazans as human shields.
“A week ago we saw hate manifest another way in the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Biden said, citing the 1,300 lives lost in Israel in massacres of civilians committed by Islamic terrorists of Hamas, as well as “children, grandparents alike kidnapped, held hostage by Hamas.”
“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza — innocent Palestinian families and the vast majority that have nothing to do with Hamas — they’re being used as human shields,” he said. “We have to reject hate in every form.”
He was addressing a Human Rights Campaign dinner on Saturday in Washington.
Meanwhile, the US President spoke on Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to allow humanitarian aid to the region and affirming his support for efforts to protect civilians.
Biden reiterated to Abbas that “Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” according to the US readout.
In their fifth phone call since the war broke out, Biden spoke with Netanyahu to “reiterate unwavering US support for Israel,” according to the US readout.
