US President Joe Biden said he was “confident” that Israel’s military would act in accordance with the rules of war in its operations in the Gaza Strip, while calling the deployment of additional US troops in the region necessary.

In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Mr. Biden also said he believes Hamas must be completely eliminated and a path must be found to establish a Palestinian state.

He warned that the threat of terrorism was magnified for his country because of the turmoil in the Middle East.

“Big mistake”

Any attempt by Israel to re-occupy the Gaza Strip would be a “big mistake”, Joe Biden said, as Israeli troops continue to prepare for a large-scale ground operation against Hamas.

After the deadliest attack on its territory by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, Israel retaliated, launching thousands of airstrikes, and ordered residents of northern Gaza to leave, moving south, ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Asked on CBS’s “60 Minutes” if he would support Israel’s occupation of Gaza, Mr. Biden replied, “I think that would be a big mistake.”

Hamas “does not represent the entire Palestinian people,” he continued, calling Israel’s “elimination of extremists” a “necessary measure.”

More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, including children, were killed in Israel during the Hamas offensive, according to the latest official count.

In the Gaza Strip, where Hamas rules, authorities count at least 2,670 dead, among them hundreds of children, in Israeli air and artillery strikes.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” is already unfolding in the enclave.

The Jewish state first occupied Gaza during the Six-Day War in 1967. Its forces did not withdraw from the coastal enclave, leaving it in Palestinian hands until 2005.
A year later, Israel imposed an air, land and naval blockade on the small enclave of 362 square kilometers, which borders Egypt and is washed by the Mediterranean.

In 2007, Israel stepped up disarmament after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, ousting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah.

Asked if he believes that Hamas should be completely eliminated, the octogenarian US president answered in the affirmative. “But there must be a Palestinian authority. There must be a path to a Palestinian state,” he added.

Mr. Biden said he “does not consider it necessary” for US forces to participate in this war, adding that they will not be sent to Ukraine either.

Israel has “one of the best armies” in the world and the US will “supply it with everything it needs,” he assured.

Washington announced yesterday that it is sending a second aircraft carrier with its strike force to the eastern Mediterranean.

Mr. Biden also said he was “confident” that Israel’s military would act according to the rules of war in its operations in the Gaza Strip.

He warned that the threat of terrorism was magnified for his country because of the turmoil in the Middle East.

“Horrible act of hate”

The US president on Sunday condemned the murder of a six-year-old boy who was stabbed near Chicago, denouncing the “horrific act of hate”, which police said was linked to the war between Israel and Hamas.

“This horrific act of hate has no place in America and goes against our fundamental values: the freedom to pray, to believe and to be who we are without fear,” Mr. Biden said, according to a press release released by his services, expressing his condolences to the family, assuring that he is praying for them and wishing the child’s mother, who was seriously injured, a speedy recovery.