World

Biden says he has ‘no confidence’ in Palestinian death count

2023.10.26 00:08


© Reuters. U.S. President Joe Biden addresses a joint press conference with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he has “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using” for the death toll in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where the health ministry says over 6,500 have been killed in Israeli attacks.

Biden was asked at a White House press conference whether the death count, which the ministry says includes some 2,700 children, meant Israel was ignoring U.S. appeals to reduce civilian deaths in its bombardment of the coastal enclave.

“What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” Biden said.

“(The) Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that (are) propagating this war against Israel. And it’s against their interest when that doesn’t happen,” Biden added.

“But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”

Biden did not say why he was skeptical of the Palestinian figures.

Reuters has been unable to independently verify casualty figures in the fighting, which began with an Oct. 7 Hamas gun rampage in southern Israel that Israeli authorities say killed 1,400 people.

Palestinians reject the notion that the Gaza death count is inaccurate.

In the U.S., the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it was “deeply disturbed” by Biden’s comments on the Gaza figures, and called on the president to apologize.

“Journalists have confirmed the high number of casualties, and countless videos coming out of Gaza every day show mangled bodies of Palestinian women and children,” CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

During Wednesday’s press conference, Biden said that Hamas was “hiding behind Palestinian civilians” in the densely-populated enclave, putting “an added burden on Israel while they go after Hamas.”

Biden added: “Israel has to do everything in its power, as difficult as it is, to protect innocent civilians.”

(This story has been refiled to add a dropped word in Biden’s quote in paragraph 1)

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 69,612.65 2.63%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,434.86 1.46%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.12%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 565.72 2.62%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 167.23 6.08%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.09%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.514333 2.30%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.170971 8.54%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,432.51 1.41%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.160415 1.55%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.334999 2.71%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.68 0.33%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000018 6.35%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 2,872.47 0.57%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 69,541.63 2.71%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 24.02 5.39%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 2,434.64 1.47%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 10.85 5.80%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 344.15 4.84%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 1.98 7.23%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999017 0.18%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.87 3.39%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 5.97 1.62%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 66.19 0.95%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 3.82 6.21%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 8.50 6.29%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,560.54 1.45%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 7.16 6.26%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000009 8.05%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 7.39 5.60%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 455.06 9.18%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.03%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.25 11.15%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 158.95 1.42%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.05%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.111524 7.28%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.093674 2.90%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 19.04 0.81%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 18.27 3.68%
first-digital-usd
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 1.00 0.49%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.304006 4.58%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 1.53 4.93%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 37.89 2.13%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 2.10 8.94%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 136.63 6.73%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.40 3.98%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.07215 2.60%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.491138 3.99%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.562134 1.69%
immutable-x
Immutable (IMX) $ 1.09 3.51%