President Joe Biden said in an interview on Sunday night that while he believes Hamas must be eliminated entirely in the wake of their attacks on Israel, there must be a path for a Palestinian state.
Biden, speaking to CBS’ 60 Minutes, also said he was ‘confident’ Israel will act under the rules of war in its conflict with Palestine, and added deploying U.S. troops is not necessary.
He also cautioned that the threat of terrorism in the United States had increased due to unrest in the Middle East.
Biden was asked, point blank, if Hamas needed to be eliminated in the wake of the attack that has already killed 1,400 people.
‘Yes, I do,’ he said. ‘But there needs to be a Palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state,’ while warning Israeli troops not to occupy Gaza.
President Joe Biden said in an interview on Sunday night that while he believes Hamas must be eliminated entirely in the wake of their attacks on Israel, there must be a path for a Palestinian state
Biden was asked, point blank, if Hamas needed to be eliminated in the wake of the attack that has already killed 1,400 people
Asked if he would support any occupation of Gaza by the American ally, Biden replied: ‘I think it’d be a big mistake.’
Hamas ‘don’t represent all the Palestinian people,’ he continued.
But invading and ‘taking out the extremists’ is a ‘necessary requirement,’ he added.
The Hamas attack saw fighters shoot, stab and burn to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. Israel’s reprisal attacks in the days since have flattened neighbourhoods and killed at least 2,670 people in Gaza, the majority ordinary Palestinians.
Israel has faced grave warnings about the implications of putting boots on the ground in Gaza, with aid groups warning of a humanitarian disaster, fears of the conflict escalating, and the challenges of separating militants from civilians in the impoverished, densely occupied territory.
Israel first occupied Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War, and it was only fully returned to Palestinians in 2005.
A year later, Israel imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the 140 square mile (362 square kilometer) strip of land, which is also bordered by Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2007 Israel tightened the blockade after Hamas took control of Gaza from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
When asked if Hamas — whom Biden described as ‘a bunch of cowards’ — must be eliminated entirely, he replied: ‘Yes I do.’
‘But there needs to be a Palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state,’ he continued, reiterating the long-standing US call for a two-state solution.
60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley also asked Biden if he could foresee US troops joining the war.
‘I don’t think that’s necessary,’ Biden, who pulled US troops out of Afghanistan and has insisted that none will be sent to aid Ukraine as it holds off a Russian invasion, replied.
‘Israel has one of the finest fighting forces in the country. I guarantee we’re gonna provide them everything they need,’ he said.
The United States has already deployed two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean in a powerful show of support for Israel.
The 81-year-old Biden – who CBS warned viewers is dealing with a return of his childhood stutter whenever he gets tired – is considering a trip to Israel in the coming days, but nothing has been finalized, a senior administration official said Sunday.
A trip would send the strongest message yet that the U.S. is behind Israel following the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The administration has already pledged military support, sending U.S. aircraft carriers to the region as well as aid. Officials have said they would ask Congress for upward of $2billion in aid for both Israel and Ukraine.
