US president faces pro-Palestinian protest in his hometown

WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden was confronted by protesters in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania on Tuesday over his backing for Israel’s war on Gaza.

As Biden’s motorcade was making its way to his next campaign event from the Scranton Cultural Center, a crowd of protesters chanted: "Biden, Biden you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide."

Carrying Palestinian flags, they also chanted: "Free free free Palestine."

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 33,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 76,600 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.