President Joe Biden has put forth a hypothesis regarding the unexpected Hamas attacks that triggered the recent conflict with Israel, suggesting a link to his efforts in negotiating a peace agreement between West Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia. Biden, speaking in Nantucket, Massachusetts, speculated that the assault on Israeli villages on October 7 was influenced by progress in talks after the announcement of a significant railway project, including a link between Riyadh and Israel, at the G20 summit in September. He claimed credit for the deal and stated, “I believe one of the reasons why Hamas struck when they did was they knew that I was working very closely with the Saudis and others in the region to bring peace.”
The president made these comments during a four-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, attributing the pause in fighting to “extensive US diplomacy” and his personal engagement, including phone calls from the Oval Office. He mentioned that Hamas agreed to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian civilians held in Israeli jails.
The October 7 attacks resulted in an estimated 1,200 casualties in Israel, with approximately 240 hostages taken back to Gaza by Islamist militants. The conflict has since claimed more than 14,000 lives in the Palestinian enclave, according to local health officials. Saudi Arabia, reportedly nearing normalization of relations with Israel, halted the deal amid the Gaza conflict.
Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, had brokered the Abraham Accords, leading to diplomatic ties between Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel. Sudan and Morocco later joined the accords.