International reactions to the Hamas attack on Israel range from complete support for Israel, to complete support for Hamas and the Palestinians, to calls for a ceasefire and the restoration of talks aiming back towards the two-state solution.
President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone, promising U.S. support for the State of Israel. “The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel,” Biden said, according to the statement issued by the White House.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who also promised full support of the defense of Israel. “The IDF and defense establishment are currently operating to defeat the enemy and to defend our citizens. We are prepared to widen our operations,” Gallant told Austin, reported the Times of Israel. During the call, which was requested by Secretary Austin, Gallant detailed recent events in Israel and operations carried out by the IDF and defense establishment, his office said. Gallant told Austin that Israel is currently at war, and has been facing terror attacks against its citizens since this morning—including men, women, children and elderly individuals. “The State of Israel will win this war, and Hamas will be held responsible for its actions,” his office said.
“Over the coming days the Department of Defense will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism,” Austin said in a statement released prior to the phone call.
Hezbollah issued a statement hailing as heroic the Palestinian resistance’s major operation, in which fighters infiltrated Israeli settlements and pounded occupied territories with thousands of rockets. “This victorious operation is a decisive retaliation to the Israelis’ crimes and continuous aggression on sanctities and dignity of our people as well as new proof that military resistance is the only choice in face of the Israeli occupation,” the statement said, according to Al Manar’s English-language website. It added that the operation “is a message to the Muslim and Arab nation as well as to the international community, especially those who are rushing to normalize ties with the Zionist entity that the Palestinian cause is alive until victory and liberation.”
In Tehran, Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, the top military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, said Iran supports the Hamas operation against the Israeli regime, reported Tasnim. He expressed confidence that the whole resistance front would also support the Palestinian operation.
Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, warned of the “grave consequences” of the Oct. 7 escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis around the Gaza Strip. Egypt urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and avoid exposing civilians to further risks, reported Al Ahram. It warned that the escalating violence would negatively affect the future of peace talks.
Egypt called on international actors involved in the peace process to intervene to stop the escalation. It also urged Israel to halt its attacks and provocations against the Palestinian people and to adhere to the rules of international humanitarian law with regard to the responsibilities of the occupying state.
Saudi Arabia has also called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. “The Kingdom is closely following up on the unprecedented developments between a number of Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupying forces,” the ministry tweeted in a statement posted on X, as reported by Al Arabiya news. The statement also highlighted that Riyadh has “repeatedly warned of the consequences of [the deterioration] of the situation as a result of the occupation, as well as of depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and of [not halting] systematic provocations against their holy [sites].”
In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS that Russia is calling on all sides in the conflict to cease fire. The Middle East peace process must be launched on the basis of internationally recognized agreements, he said. “We urge that a peace process immediately start on the basis of existing internationally recognized agreements. UN Security Council decisions have not been implemented, the work of the Middle East Quartet has been hampered, talks have not been held, and this is the result.” Similarly, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement under spokeswoman Maria Zakharova today.
Brazil, meanwhile, has announced that it would convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis. Brazil holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month of October. The Brazilian Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks in a public statement and expressed solidarity with the people of Israel, reported Reuters. It also reaffirmed a commitment to a “two-state solution,” with Palestine and Israel coexisting within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders.
