US President Joe Biden on Sunday said that Hamas is using innocent Palestinian families as human shields in its assault on Israel.
He said that the majority of Palestinians have anything to do with Hamas.
Speaking at a gala dinner for the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, Biden said, "The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, innocent Palestinian families, and the vast majority have nothing to do with Hamas."
"They're being used as human shields," he added.
Biden claimed that the terror attack launched by Hamas was the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust and that the Hamas terror organisation had used Palestinian civilians as human shields to avoid Israeli reprisals, according to The Times of Israel.
The President said that the day before, he chatted on Zoom for an hour with relatives of Americans who are still missing, and he relates this to his own experiences, including the loss of his first wife and daughter in a vehicle accident in 1972.
"They've endured an agony not knowing what's happening. It's not the same thing, but I can tell you what it's like. It's one thing to lose somebody you know you're going to lose ... like I was able to do with my son," Biden said.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, the US has expressed strong solidarity with the people of Israel and has assured complete support to the nation in its fight against Hamas terrorists.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Hamas is a terrorist group and its only agenda is to destroy Israel and murder Jews. He said the group is not a representative of the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations for the future.
"Hamas is not a representative of the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations for the future. Hamas is a terrorist group and its only agenda is to destroy Israel and murder Jews. And it is important that the entire world sees it as such. This is an important moment for more clarity when it comes to Hamas," the US State Secretary said during a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan recently.
Blinken further said that no country can or should be expected to tolerate what Israel has just been on the receiving end of, which is an attack that also defies description in words, in which 1300 of its people were slaughtered along with the nationals of more than 30 other countries by Hamas.
Blinken is on a visit to Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt from October 11-15 to meet with senior officials and reiterate his condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Israel, reaffirming the United States' solidarity with the government and people of Israel, as per a release issued by the US State Department.
Earlier, Blinken said that efforts to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza have been "complicated" as terrorist group Hamas continues to use civilians as "human shields" and is reportedly blocking roads to prevent Palestinians from relocating to southern Gaza.
Terming the humanitarian situation as "urgent" Blinken added that the US is actively engaged with its partners, including Qatar to provide humanitarian aid to those who are in need. He noted that Israel is carrying out operations in Gaza as Hamas carried out terrorist attacks that killed 1,300 Israelis in the "most horrific way."
Meanwhile, Israeli troops are mobilizing towards Gaza. Aerial patrolling is also being sent at the Gaza border.
It was recently reported that Israeli soldiers, their tanks and munitions have been deployed near the Gaza border as they prepare for a full ground offensive against Hamas.
In the pictures coming in from the Gaza border, tanks can be seen firing shells towards the Gaza Strip. Moreover, soldiers are seen loading artillery shells into howitzers.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
