Calls for Gaza ceasefire interrupt speech by US President Biden

Protesters interrupted US President Joe Biden’s campaign speech in South Carolina on Monday, demanding a ceasefire and accusing him of complicity in the killing of Palestinians in Gaza. ‘20,000 Palestinians. Their blood is on your hands,’ the protesters said as they called for a ceasefire, disrupting Biden’s speech. After the protesters were escorted out, Biden addressed the crowd, saying he understands ‘their passion’. ‘I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza,’ he said. Israel has killed over 23,210 people in Gaza, including more than 9,000 children, and injured over 59,000 people since the start of its war on the besieged strip.

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A speech by President Joe Biden at a church on Monday was interrupted by calls for a ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports

“If you really care about the lives lost here, then you should honour the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine,” one protestor shouted while Biden was giving remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in the US South.

Several shouted “ceasefire now” before being escorted from the church hall. After they exited, shouts of “four more years” came from the remaining audience, in apparent solidarity with Biden.

“I understand their passion, and I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza,” said Biden.

White House insiders have said Biden, while largely supporting Israel’s government in public, has urged it behind the scenes to curb its devastating attacks, but with little result so far.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the enclave since 7 October, killing at least 23,084 Palestinians and injuring 58,926 others, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

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