Biden says Hamas attacks were intended to damage Israel-Saudi Arabia relations

US President Joe Biden made assessments regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict while attending a fundraising event.

"They knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis. The Saudis wanted to recognize Israel," said Biden, adding that one of the reasons for Hamas's attack on Israel was to disrupt the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had stated on October 20 that Israel's attacks on the blockaded Gaza Strip must stop, adding, "We are saddened by the increasing violence witnessed in Gaza today, for which innocent civilians are paying the price."

SAUDI ARABIA-ISRAEL NORMALIZATION TALKS

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations. However, the US administration has been mediating for a similar agreement between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, as it did for the normalization agreements reached between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, and Sudan.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously given "positive messages" regarding the talks held for a normalization agreement between the two countries.

In an interview with Fox News, Bin Salman had said that they were "getting closer every day" to a normalization agreement with Israel.

Netanyahu also stated in his speech at the UN General Assembly that they were "on the cusp of a historic agreement with Saudi Arabia."

Nayif Bender es-Sudeyri, the first ambassador appointed by Saudi Arabia to Palestine, also arrived in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank in September and presented his credentials to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The ambassador's visit was recorded as the "first official visit from Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian administration."

ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, launched a comprehensive attack on Israel on the morning of October 7, dubbed "Al-Aqsa Flood."

While thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel, Palestinian armed groups raided and seized the Beit Hanoun-Erez Border Crossing on the Gaza-Israel border.

The armed groups then entered settlements inside Israel from there, and the Israeli army launched an attack on the Gaza Strip with dozens of fighter jets.

It was reported that 1,400 Israelis, 306 of whom were soldiers, were killed and 4,834 Israelis were injured in the attacks from Gaza.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that 4,137 people, including 1,524 children, had been killed and more than 13,000 people had been injured in Israel's attacks on Gaza.

It was also stated that 84 Palestinians had been killed in attacks by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

16 journalists lost their lives in Israel's attacks.