Washington DC - Shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his government to be "at war" with Hamas, President Joe Biden pledged his full support to the State of Israel. What have his 2024 rival candidates had to say about the renewed outbreak of violence in the region?

The militant Palestinian group Hamas made international headlines on Friday with an all-out assault on Israel after decades of occupation.

Israel responded by saying it would retaliate, sparking international outcry and alarm over potential mass killings. The fears are especially acute for residents of Gaza, where Palestinians are prevented from escaping due to an Israeli blockade.

Incumbent President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection on the Democratic ticket, has vowed to continue the US government's long-standing military support for Israel, amounting to over $150 billion (not adjusting for inflation) since World War II. But not all of his 2024 challengers echoed his full-throated support for the Israeli government.

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Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia, who represent the Party for Socialism and Liberation, had the strongest condemnation for the Israeli occupation and violence in the Occupied Territories, a situation so bad that the State of Israel has been classified as an apartheid regime by Israeli and international human rights groups.

"Liberals haven't been paying attention, self defense is not violence. Violence is displacing, humiliating, murdering, imprisoning a people for decades and expecting them to take the abuse until colonizers 'grow a conscious,'" De la Cruz wrote on X.

"Only one side in our work towards justice … with the colonized and exploited, until victory! Long Live Palestine! Free, free Palestine!"

The other 2024 contenders for president showed mixed responses to the outbreak of violence, with none so staunchly supportive of Palestinian rights as De la Cruz.

Cornel West, who recently announced he would run as an Independent rather than with the Green Party, took a different approach.

"The escalation of the barbaric violence in the Middle East must stop!" he said. "The vicious Israeli occupation and the ugly Palestinian retaliation results in the killing of precious innocent people on both sides! We must have a lasting peace based on justice!"

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"President Biden and other world leaders must spend less time conjuring a fog of war with subjective and violent vernacular associated with who does and who doesn’t have the right to defend themselves, and more time evoking a language of love and dignity for all people involved," West added in an official statement shared by campaign manager Peter Daou.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been running in the Democratic primary but is widely expected to announce an Independent campaign on Monday, was vociferous in his defense of the Israeli state.

"This ignominious, unprovoked, and barbaric attack on Israel must be met with world condemnation and unequivocal support for the Jewish state’s right to self-defense. We must provide Israel with whatever it needs to defend itself – now," he wrote on X. "As President, I’ll make sure that our policy is unambiguous so that the enemies of Israel will think long and hard before attempting aggression of any kind."

Progressive Democratic challenger Marianne Williamson, who is Jewish, said, "I will have much to say in the coming days about what is happening in Israel and how I feel the United States should respond. For now, I stand with Israel. And I stand with the Palestinian people."

Meanwhile, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump vowed at a Saturday campaign event in Iowa to "once again stand with Israel," saying he will "cut off the money to Palestinian terrorists on day one" if reelected to the presidency.