Biden pledges to stand by Israel after attacks and confirms 14 Americans were killed

US president Joe Biden has denounced the attacks on Israel at the weekend as “sheer evil” and revealed that 14 Americans had been killed and others taken hostage.

In an address from the White House on Tuesday, he pledged additional military and other support to ensure that Israel had what it needed to respond to the attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian forces at the weekend that killed more than 1,000 people.

“Let there be no doubt that the US has Israel’s back,” he said.

Mr Biden described the attacks by Hamas as “pure unadulterated evil”. He said that at least 14 Americans had been killed in the attacks – an increase of three on the figures provided by the White House on Monday.

Israel-Hamas war: Israel launches strikes across Gaza Strip as US envoy visits region

---

How a US university that prides itself on freedom of speech dealt with student protests over Gaza

---

Benny Gantz threatens to quit Israeli government unless new plan is adopted for war in Gaza

---

Nearly 800,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since Israeli ground operation began - Unrwa

---

The president also confirmed a number of US citizens were being held hostage by Hamas forces in Gaza – although he did not specify how many were involved. “We stand with Israel”, the president said.

He said the US would make sure Israel “has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack”.

Mr Biden said the US was “surging” military support for Israel including ammunition and interceptor missiles for its “Iron Dome” defence system.

“We’re going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.”

Mr Biden also again warned any other country or organisation not to try to take advantage of the situation in Israel at present. He said his message to anyone thinking about such action was “don’t”.

He confirmed that the White House had ordered a US aircraft carrier group into the region.

“There are moments in this life and I mean this literally when the pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend,” Mr Biden said.

The stated purpose of the Hamas organisation was to kill Jews, he said, adding that “terrorists purposely targeted civilians”.

“We uphold the laws of war, law of war. It matters. There’s a difference,” he said, adding that there was no “no justification for terrorism, there is no excuse”.

The US Congress is currently in effective legislative limbo – as the House of Representatives has no speaker after Kevin McCarthy was ousted last week.

However Mr Biden said that when Congress returned he would seek it to take “urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners”.

Earlier Mr Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris spoke with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Also on Tuesday the US ambassador to Nato, Julianne Smith, said that military assistance to Israel after the weekend attacks by Hamas would not come at the expense of support from Washington to Ukraine.