Biden says Israel hasn't 'overreacted' with deadly Gaza assault that has killed over 100 Palestinians

The president's remarks have drawn criticism from within his own party.
2 min read
Biden said the US has been in contact with Egypt and Saudi Arabia [Getty]


US President Joe Biden dismissed criticism of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, saying he has not seen a "significant overreaction" to attacks, despite Israel repeatedly targeting dense residential blocks that have caused the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians, including children.

"One of the things I have seen thus far is that there has not been a significant overreaction," Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

"The question is how we get to a point where - they get to a point where there is a significant reduction in the attacks, particularly the rocket attacks that are indiscriminately fired into population centres," he said, adding that Washington has been also in contact with Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the matter.

The president's remarks sparked criticism from Democratic Party lawmakers and activists.

Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib criticised the White House's response and urged US lawmakers to condition aid to Israel as Palestinians are "being killed as the world watches".

Tlaib said she was "a reminder to Congress that Palestinians do indeed exist, and we are human", during a speech on the House floor.

"And colleagues," she continued, "Palestinians aren’t going anywhere no matter how much money you send to Israel’s apartheid government".

Gaza's health ministry has said that 119 Palestinians, including 31 children died while more than 830 have been wounded in Israel’s barrage of rockets.

The Israeli military said it had struck Gaza more than 600 times since Monday evening while Hamas has fired more than 1,600 rockets towards Israel.

Israel has beefed up its military presence on the border with Gaza however on Friday clarified that its troops had not entered the Palestinian territory as it had earlier stated, blaming an "internal communication" problem for the confusion.

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