President Joe Biden of the United States has apologised to some prominent Muslim-American leaders over his public questioning of the Palestinian death number reported by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health.
According to the New York Post, Biden was in the gathering of five Muslim American leaders the day after his October 25 comments about reported Gaza deaths roiled the Islamic community, vowing to “do better.”
In the meeting, which was initially billed for 30 minutes but lasted more than an hour, Biden heard the leaders describe individuals they knew who were personally affected by the conflict, and told the group, “I’m sorry. I’m disappointed in myself.”
Prior to the press conference, the US president openly questioned the accuracy of the casualty figures from Gaza, given Hamas’ terror track record.
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He was smeared with criticism at home, as he made great efforts to pressure Israel to minimise civilian casualties.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s a price of waging war,” he added.
More than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including many women and children, have been killed in the conflict, according to data from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
Israel has suffered more than 1,200 fatalities — mostly also civilians, who were killed when the terror group launched a massive attack on Israel on October 7.
The Muslim-American leaders who met with Biden urged him to display more empathy for the Palestinians.
