President Joe Biden condemned the recent attacks by Hamas on Israel as "pure, unadulterated evil" in a speech Tuesday and said more than 1,000 people have died in Israel, including at least 14 American citizens.
"This is an act of sheer evil," Biden said, noting "stomach-turning reports of babies being killed, entire families slain."
"Young people [were] massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace," Biden said, referring to how Gaza militants attacked an all-night music festival on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.
Video footage from that day shows how missiles were spotted in the sky, followed by festival attendees being shot and killed at point-blank range.
"Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. Families hidden in fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing attention," Biden said. "And thousands of wounded, alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel wounds and the memory of what they endured."
Biden's first comments regarding the conflict were made Saturday, when he expressed support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and condemned the acts of Gaza militants.