US President Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned the retaliatory attacks launched by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.
Biden said he would redouble his commitment to working on a two-state solution to end the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He stressed that settler attacks are like “pouring gasoline” on the fire that has already been burning in the Middle East since the Hamas attack, according to Agence France-Presse.
“This must stop now,” Biden explained at the beginning of a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is on an official visit to Washington.
The US President indicated that Israel has the right to respond to the Hamas attack, but at the same time it must “do everything in its power” to protect civilians.
The war broke out on October 7 after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack during which hundreds of its fighters infiltrated Israeli areas of the Gaza Strip, and was accompanied by the firing of thousands of rockets towards Israel, causing the death of 1,400 people, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli authorities. Israel also announced that Hamas holds more than 200 hostages.
Since then, Israel has launched air strikes and heavy artillery shelling on the Gaza Strip, killing 6,546 people, most of them civilians, including 2,704 children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Violence against Palestinians escalated
Settler violence against Palestinians has escalated since the Hamas attack, and Palestinians have been killed by settlers, according to Palestinian authorities.
Rights groups say settlers set fire to cars and attacked small communities, forcing them to evacuate to other areas.
The West Bank Protection Union, a coalition of non-governmental organizations and donor countries, including the European Union, confirms that hundreds of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in the West Bank due to settler violence since October 7, in addition to more than 1,100 displaced since 2022.
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2023-10-25 20:31:11
