President Joe Biden: Hamas Terrorist Attack ‘Deadliest Day for Jewish People Since Holocaust,’ But ‘We Will Not Stand By and Do Nothing Again’

President Joe Biden said during his half-day visit to Israel on Wednesday that the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack was the “deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Biden added that, unlike in the past, the United States will “not stand by and do nothing again — not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”

“October 7, which was a sacred Jewish holiday, became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the holocaust,” Biden said. “It has brought to the surface painful memories and scars left by a millennium of antisemitism and the genocide of the Jewish people. The world watched then, it knew, and the world did nothing. We will not stand by and do nothing again. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”

The president condemned the actions of Hamas terrorists, saying: “There’s no rationalizing it, no excusing it, period. The brutality we saw would have cut deep anywhere in the world, but it cuts deeper here in Israel.”

The Hamas terror attack killed more than 1,300 and injured more than 4,400 people, according to reports. The attack occurred on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the last festival of the High Holy Day cycle.

More than 100 Israelis were also kidnapped to Gaza — including women, children, and the elderly, many of whom were abused during their abductions. The Palestinian terror attack against Israel has repeatedly been referred to as the “worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. The militant Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations, killing hundreds and taking captives. Palestinian health officials reported scores of deaths from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Hundreds of foreign nationals in Israel have also been reported murdered, missing, or abducted by Hamas terrorists following the deadly invasion. At least 31 U.S. citizens have been killed, and an unspecified number of Americans have been taken hostage or remain unaccounted for.

“Hundreds of young people at a music festival — the festival was for peace — gunned down as they ran for their lives. Scores of innocents, from infants to elderly grandparents, Israelis and Americans taken hostage,” Biden said.

10 October 2023, Israel, Re’im: An Israeli solider stands at the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival after Saturday’s deadly attack by Islamist Hamas militants where 260 people died and more than 100 people were taken hostage, according to the ZAKA rescue agency. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa (Photo by Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)

“Children slaughtered, babies slaughtered, entire families massacred, rapes, beheadings, bodies burned alive. Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure unadulterated evil on the world,” he continued.

So far, the Israeli government says it has identified and notified the families of 199 people known to be held hostage since the terrorist attack.

Biden said that for “those who are living in limbo, waiting desperately to learn the fate of a loved one, especially to the families of the hostages, you are not alone.”

“We are working with partners throughout the region, pursuing every avenue to bring home those who are being held captive by Hamas,” he said, adding that he has “no higher priority” than the release and safe return of hostages.

Biden also announced $100 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza and the West Bank during his remarks and said he would request an “unprecedented support package” for Israel later this week. Israel announced on Wednesday that no humanitarian aid will be delivered to the Gaza Strip until Hamas terrorists release the hostages.