Today’s news / Biden says things cannot be as before
President Joe Biden speaks Wednesday at a news conference in Washington. The next step for the region, according to Biden, has to be a two-state solution. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/Ritzau Scanpix

Biden says things cannot be as before

According to US President Joe Biden, it is not possible for Israel and the Palestinian people to return to the status quo of October 6. The next step for the region, according to him, has to be a two-state solution. The president said this at a press conference at the White House, which was also attended by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. With October 6, the president is referring to the day before Hamas carried out a bloody surprise attack against Israel, which has since responded with a series of attacks.
      Biden also issued a criticism that Reuters said was a rare rebuke to Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Their attacks against Palestinians in this area must stop immediately. “I remain concerned about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank,” he said. The president explains that such attacks are pouring gasoline on the fire of conflict. “They are attacking Palestinians, who are in places where they have a right to be,” he says. Israel must do everything in its power, however difficult it may be, to protect civilians.
     The latest report of deaths from Hamas in Gaza is that at least 6,546 Palestinians have died. However, Joe Biden said at the press conference that he had “no confidence” in the civilian death figures provided by Hamas. Since Hamas’s October 7 attacks, in which at least 1400 people were summarily killed, according to Israel, violence has flared up in the West Bank. On Saturday, Palestinian officials said at least 84 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7. /ritzau/Reuters/