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Biden Uses Hamas Casualty Figures, Calls for Ceasefire in Apparent U-Turn on Gaza War
US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address at the US Capitol, March 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Joe Biden used the Hamas terror group’s casualty figures for the war in Gaza and called for a six-week ceasefire during his State of the Union address on Thursday, reflecting an apparent shift in his approach to the conflict.
Biden spoke about the Israel-Hamas war briefly during his speech, which lasted just over an hour.
“I know the last five months have been gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, for the Palestinian people and so many here in America,” Biden said, adding that the “crisis” was precipitated by Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel and that he pledged to bring home every one of the Americans still held hostage in Gaza.
Biden then shifted gears, explaining that “Israel also has a fundamental responsibility, though, to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.”
“This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” Biden said, echoing the statistics coming from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
In October, Biden expressed doubt about the accuracy of Hamas’ casualty statistics, which do not distinguish between terrorist combatants and civilians.
Some NGOs say Hamas’ numbers have historically been relatively accurate. However, a recent report from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy found that Hamas’ statistics are “inconsistent, imprecise, and systematically manipulated to downplay the number of men and militants killed.”
Additionally, a professor of statistics and data science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found a significant number of anomalies and almost impossible trends within the data released by the terror group, further throwing its credibility into question.
“Thousands and thousands of innocents, women, and children. Girls and boys also orphaned,” Biden said on Thursday.
“Nearly two million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement. Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. Families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking,” he added.
Biden also discussed his efforts to achieve a ceasefire.
“I’ve been working nonstop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for six weeks to get all the prisoners released — all the hostages released,” he said. “It would get the hostages home, and ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis, and build toward an enduring, something more enduring.”
This statement seemed to suggest a six-week ceasefire should be a jumping-off point for a permanent peace deal. The Biden administration has previously rejected multiple ceasefire proposals at the United Nations.
Israel has been opposed to a ceasefire deal that does not include the release of all remaining hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, arguing such a truce would help the Palestinian terror group by allowing it to regroup and strengthen its position in Gaza.
During his speech to the US Congress, Biden did not mention the massive spike in antisemitism that took place since the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, since which antisemitic incidents have reached record levels across the US.
Biden also did not say whether he believes Israel should remove Hamas as the governing authority in Gaza — which is one of the Jewish state’s war goals.
These omissions came amid growing pressure from Democratic allies to be tougher on Israel and even possibly cut off military aid to it.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said the US should cut aid to Israel if it invades the city of Rafah, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said Israel “needs to understand that the casualties they’ve inflicted on the people of Gaza — the devastation they have caused — cannot continue.”
The post Biden Uses Hamas Casualty Figures, Calls for Ceasefire in Apparent U-Turn on Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.