President Joe Biden reportedly issued an apology to several prominent Muslim-American leaders after openly questioning the accuracy of the death toll figures from Gaza.
During a press conference on October 25, President Biden openly questioned the number of causalities in Gaza, which are reported by the Hamas government.
“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,” Biden said. “I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s a price of waging war.”
Biden met with five Muslim American leaders the day after his October 25 comments about reported Gaza deaths.
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President Joe Biden speaks about the release of hostages from Gaza, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 24, 2023. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
During the meeting, Biden listened to the leaders describe people they knew who were directly impacted by the conflict in the Middle East.
“I’m sorry. I’m disappointed in myself,” Biden told the group, according to the Washington Post.
The Muslim-American leaders who met with Biden urged him to show more empathy to the Palestinians and Biden allegedly hugged one of the participants at the end of the meeting.
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President Joe Biden joins Israel’s Prime Minister for the start of the Israeli war cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
According to data from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 14,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including many women and children, have been killed in the weeks-old war.
Israel has suffered more than 1,200 fatalities, most of those being civilians, who were killed when the Hamas terror group fired a sneak attack on Israel on October 7, according to officials.
Not only has Biden faced criticism and pressure from his own administration on the strategy taken in Gaza, some prominent Democrats have also publicly disagreed with the president’s response to the war.
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President Biden speaks during a news conference with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Biden has endorsed US support for Israel following the October 7 attack, but he also has pushed for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and for hostages held by Hamas to get released.
“For weeks, I’ve been advocating to pause the fighting for two purposes: to increase the assistance getting into the Gaza civilians who need help and to facilitate release of hostages,” Biden said on Sunday. “We know that innocent children in Gaza are suffering greatly as well.”
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Protesters hold banners with hostages’ pictures, Israel’s and US flags during a demonstration in support of Israel on Sant Jaume square in Barcelona on October 15, 2023. (LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
Beginning on Friday, Hamas and Israel agreed to pause fighting for four days as a hostage-for-prisoner deal takes place to free roughly 50 hostages in return for the temporary peace and dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox New Digital.