Hamas dismisses Biden comments on Palestinian state

A senior Hamas official dismissed on Saturday comments by US President Joe Biden about the possibility of Israel agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Biden said Friday it was still possible that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could agree to some form of Palestinian state after the two leaders spoke by phone for the first time in nearly a month, while Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza grinds on.

“The illusion that Biden is preaching about a state of Palestine and its characteristics does not fool our people,” Izzat Al-Rishq, member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement.

“Biden is a full partner in the genocidal war and our people do not expect any good from him.”

Biden said after the call that it was possible that Netanyahu could become open to some form of two-state solution, raised for decades to end tensions in the Middle East.

“There are a number of types of two-state solutions. There’s a number of countries that are members of the UN that… don’t have their own militaries,” Biden told reporters after an event at the White House.

The call between Biden and Netanyahu came a day after the Israeli leader said he opposes allowing Palestinian sovereignty as the war in Gaza shows no signs of letting up.

Netanyahu has pledged to destroy Hamas and demilitarize Gaza following the militant group’s October 7 attack and is increasingly resistant to US pressure for a plan that includes any form of Palestinian statehood.

Hamas’s attack resulted in the death of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel has been conducting a relentless air and ground offensive that has killed at least 24,927 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, children, and adolescents, according to Gaza health ministry figures.