US President Joe Biden and his rival, former President Donald Trump, competed in the first 2024 presidential election debate yesterday evening, Thursday, to demonstrate full support for Israel in its war on the Gaza Strip.

Trump, the Republican Party candidate, evaded expressing his position on recognizing the State of Palestine to support peace in the region.

When Trump was asked whether he supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in order to support peace in the region, he replied, “I will look into the matter.”

Regarding the war in Gaza, Trump said that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) would not have attacked Israel if he had been in the presidency, stressing that it is Israel that wants to continue the war and we must let it do so so that it can accomplish its mission.

He accused Biden of speaking like a Palestinian, saying that he is a "bad Palestinian."

Biggest supporter

On the other hand, Biden - the Democratic Party candidate - said that Hamas is the only one that wants the war to continue in Gaza, and that it must not be allowed to continue.

Biden promoted a proposal he had previously put forward that included exchanging prisoners in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel and a ceasefire with “additional conditions,” without revealing what those conditions were.

He added, "We are still putting strong pressure on Hamas to accept the plan to end the war in Gaza."

He rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's accusation that Washington did not support Israel enough, by stressing that the only weapons Biden refused to send to Israel were 2,000-pound bombs, which should not be used in populated areas.

Biden described his administration as Tel Aviv's biggest supporter, noting that he saved it and united the world against Iran when it attacked Israel.

Biden spoke about what he called Israel's ability to weaken Hamas, and called on Tel Aviv to take civilians into account when carrying out military operations in civilian areas.

First debate

It is worth noting that this is the first personal confrontation between Trump and Biden in the 2024 election cycle, and the first debate in American history between a sitting president and a former president.

The US presidential elections will be held on November 5, 2024, and the winner will assume the country’s presidency for four years, starting in January 2025.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 124,000 Palestinian victims dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens of children.

Israel continues its war on the Gaza Strip, ignoring the UN Security Council resolutions to stop it “immediately,” and the orders of the International Court of Justice to end the Rafah invasion of the southern Gaza Strip and take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.