Washington DC - The surprise Hamas assault on Israel has opened up a new front in the 2024 presidential election campaign as Donald Trump and other Republican candidates accuse President Joe Biden of being soft in his defense of Israel and in his handling of Iran.

"I think this is a great opportunity for our candidates to contrast where Republicans have stood with Israel – time and time again – and Joe Biden has been weak," Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Saturday on Fox News.

Trump, meanwhile, used the stunning attack to target Biden.

"The Israeli attack was made because we are perceived as weak and ineffective and with a very weak leader," he said. In a statement released by his campaign, the former president also suggested the Hamas operation was directly caused by the Biden administration.

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Other Republican presidential hopefuls, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pence, also dismissed Biden as weak.

The GOP has zeroed in on a recent decision by the Biden administration to release $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue frozen in South Korea in exchange for the release of five Americans who were being held prisoner in Iran.

Tehran is the main sponsor of Hamas, which the US and other countries classify as a terrorist group.

Florida Senator Rick Scott said that in unfreezing that money – it was transferred to a bank account in Qatar for use only for humanitarian purposes – the US had in effect financed the Hamas attack, which won praise from Iran.

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That charge angered the White House, which called it a "shameful lie" and insisting that the money was tightly controlled in how it could be used and none of it has been spent.

A senior administration official speaking to reporters on Saturday accused Republicans of spreading disinformation.