Biden: Israel’s Gaza operation will end when Hamas no longer able to murder Israelis

US President Joe Biden says Israel’s operation in Gaza, following the shock October 7 massacre in southern Israeli communities, “will end when Hamas no longer maintains the capacity to murder, abuse, and do horrific things to the Israelis.”

Biden says in a televised press conference following his long-anticipated meeting China’s Xi Jinping that Israel’s military has “an obligation to use as much caution as they can in going after their targets. Hamas said they plan to attack Israelis again and this is terrible dilemma.”

The Biden administration has continued to reject calls for a ceasefire, saying that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas after the October 7 massacre, while pushing for more short-term humanitarian pauses and asserting that it expects Israel to abide by the rules of war while fighting in Gaza.

Biden says Israel is taking risks in operating around al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City but “one thing has been established: Hamad does have headquarters, weapons, materiel, below this hospital, and — I suspect — others.”

The president says US officials have held discussions with the Israelis, urging them to be “incredibly careful” in military moves around hospitals in the Palestinian enclave.

Biden adds he is “mildly hopeful” that there would be a deal to free some 240 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself here because I don’t know what’s happened in the last four hours, but we have gotten great cooperation from the Qataris,” he says when asked about progress on freeing hostages taken on October 7, when Hamas-led terrorists also killed 1,200 people, a majority of them civilians.

Qatar has been leading mediation efforts for the release of the hostages.