United States President Joe Biden said on Saturday the US will always have Israel\u2019s back and warned that no enemy of Israel should exploit the attacks. Talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he offered \u201call appropriate means of support\u201d to the government and people of Israel in their fight against Hamas. \u201cThe United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the government and people of Israel,\u201d President Biden said in a statement issued after he spoke with Mr Netanyahu. \u201cMy administration\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s security is rock solid and unwavering. \u201cTerrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people,\u201d he said \u201cWe are heartbroken by the lives that have been tragically cut short and hope for a swift recovery for all those who have been wounded,\u201d President Biden said. \u201cMy team and I are tracking this situation closely, and I will remain in close touch with Prime Minister Netanyahu.\u201d Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, however, told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that \u201cinjustice\u201d towards Palestinians is driving the conflict with Israel to an \u201cexplosion\u201d, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA. In a phone call, Abbas also said the ongoing escalation is down to the \u201cpractices of the colonialists and the Israeli occupation forces, and the aggression against Islamic and Christian sanctities,\u201d according to WAFA. In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to make \u201cdiplomatic efforts to avoid wider conflagration,\u201d adding that \u201conly a two-state solution\u201d could bring peace to the region. St\u00e9phane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN secretary general, said Mr Guterres has called for the immediate release of all abducted persons and \u201curges all diplomatic efforts to avoid a wider conflagration.\u201d The secretary-general \u201cstresses that violence cannot provide a solution to the conflict, and that only through negotiation leading to a two-state solution can peace be achieved.\u201d The New York Times noted that \u201cthe issue of Israelis in captivity is a deeply emotional and explosive one in Israel.\u201d In 2006, Gaza militants seized an Israeli hostage and held him for five years until he was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. As the Atlantic magazine pointed out, the \u2018critical strategic\u2019 question being debated in Washington is: How this conflict, and especially an extended one, impacts long-term efforts to build on the Abraham Accords and possibly normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia? The United States has been trying to negotiate a wide-ranging deal to get Saudi Arabia to agree to diplomatically recognise Israel. \u201cIsrael will have some bandwidth from the international community in the coming days to launch a retaliatory strike. But the longer a war goes and the more carnage there is, the international community will begin to call for all sides to de-escalate,\u201d says Jonathan Panikoff, the director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative in the Middle East Programmes. Mr Panikoff, one of the authors of the Atlantic\u2019s opinion piece, argued that Jerusalem was unlikely to accede to requests for peace \u201cunless it views that it has achieved at least some of its objectives\u201d. And while Saudi Arabia may be privately supportive of Israel\u2019s efforts to take on Hamas, \u201cthe Arab street is not likely to be so supportive, especially as images from television, print, and X highlight death and destruction in Gaza and potentially Lebanon,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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