U.S. President Joe Biden tried to convince the American people in a speech on Thursday night that the United States must continue supporting Israel and Ukraine amid the two countries' respective conflicts.

Addressing the nation from the Oval Office of the White House during prime time, Biden said ensuring Israel's success in the conflict with Hamas and Ukraine's victory in its conflict with Russia is "vital for America's national security."

To achieve the desired outcomes, Biden said he would send an "urgent budget request" to Congress on Friday in order to "fund America's national security needs to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine."

The sum of the supplemental spending package requested by the White House, according to people familiar with the matter, amounts to $100 billion, including $10 billion for emergency assistance to Israel, and $60 billion for Ukraine to fund its fight against Russia.

By lumping the Israel and Ukraine priorities together in one package, Biden is testing whether Republican lawmakers can be persuaded to set aside their opposition and go along with spending on Ukraine.

The Republican leader of the Senate has indicated willingness to take up the measure, but there is opposition within the party.

Eight Republicans, led by Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, wrote in a letter: "These are two separate and unrelated conflicts and it would be wrong to leverage support of aid to Israel in an attempt to get additional aid for Ukraine across the finish line."

Biden's speech came one day after his whirlwind trip to Israel to show U.S. support, a journey overshadowed by an attack on a hospital in Gaza City that claimed hundreds of civilian lives and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza resulting from Israeli bombardment.

Since the start of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, the United States has reiterated time and again its "ironclad" solidarity with Israel, vowing to provide whatever the country needs to continue the fight against Hamas.

Washington, however, is increasingly finding itself in a dilemma over the need to keep a delicate balance between upholding the commitment to Israel and urging its ally to do everything it can to prevent the suffering of Palestinian civilians, which has already led to the eruption of protests across the Arab world.

Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that Josh Paul, an official at the U.S. State Department, had resigned from his post overseeing U.S. arms transfer to foreign nations.

In a letter dated Wednesday, he said he resigned in protest of his country's "blind support" for Israel shown by "continued – indeed, expanded and expedited – provision of lethal arms."

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: A view of rubble of residential buildings after Israeli airstrikes at al-Zahra neighborhood in Gaza Strip, October 19, 2023. /CFP)