Conflicts & War

Netanyahu thanks Biden for ‘America’s support for Israel’

Tel Aviv, May 21 (EFE).- Israel’s caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netayanhu thanked US president Joe Biden for “America’s support for Israel” after a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict came into force Friday.

“I want to thank President Joe Biden, a friend of many years, who stood by Israel throughout this conflict. He expressed clearly, unreservedly, America’s support for Israel’s right of self-defense,” he said during a press conference from Israel’s Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.

Both parties agreed Thursday to the “mutual and simultaneous” truce, negotiated by Egypt, the terms of which are not yet known.

The truce ends 11 days of escalating violence that left 232 Palestinians dead in Gaza and another 12 people dead in Israel.

Netanyahu claimed Israel “didn’t initiate this conflict” and that the country was “attacked in an unprovoked manner by the Hamas terrorist organization.”

The conflict sparked clashes in occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and mixed cities in Israel, causing the worst violence in the region since the 2014 war.

“We regret every loss of life, but I can tell you categorically, there is no army in the world that acts in a more moral fashion than the army of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem took to the streets in celebration of the ceasefire, which they view as a victory against Israel.

jer-sga/mp/jt

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