WASHINGTON – United States President Joe Biden has called for a “pause” in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow the release of hostages.
He was responding to a woman in the audience at a campaign event in Minnesota, who urged him to call for a ceaefire.
“I think we need a pause. A pause means give time to get the prisoners out,” he said.
The White House later clarified that the president was referring to humanitarian aid and the 240 hostages being held by Hamas.
The woman was escorted out by security while singing “ceasefire now” but Biden went on to say that the situation is “incredibly complicated” for both Israelis as well as the Muslim world.
“I supported a two-state solution; I have from the very beginning,” he added. “The fact of the matter is that Hamas is a terrorist organization. A flat-out terrorist organization.”
Like Biden, Pope Francis, too, has said that a two-state solutuion is the “wise” way to solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster RAI, Francis said there has to be “two well-defined states”, with Jerusalem given special status.
“The war in the Holy Land frightens me,” Francis said. “How will these people end this story?”
Francis said an escalation of the violence “would mean the end of so many things and so many lives”.
Francis said he speaks everyday by phone to priests and nuns running a parish in Gaza, where 560 people are taking shelter, mostly Christians and some Muslims.
“For now, thank God, Israeli forces are respecting that parish,” he said. (BBC)
