Biden declares it is 'vital' to US security for Israel, Ukraine to succeed, will request funding

President Biden will request funding from Congress for Israel and Ukraine in order to "fund America’s national security needs" – an investment he said will "pay dividends for American security," while warning that both Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin seek to "completely annihilate a neighboring democracy."

The president addressed the nation from the Oval Office Thursday night, a day after he visited with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli officials in Tel Aviv. Biden and Israeli officials discussed the ongoing war, and the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip. 

The president said he will send Congress an "urgent budget request" on Friday "to fund America's national security needs to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine is a smart investment that's going to pay dividends for American security for generations." 

The president said the package, if approved, will help to "keep American troops out of harm's way, help us build a world that is safer, more peaceful and more prosperous for our children and grandchildren in Israel." 

"We must make sure that they have what they need to protect their people today," Biden said. "And always the security package I'm sending to Congress and asking Congress to do is an unprecedented commitment to Israel's security that will sharpen Israel's qualitative military edge, which we've committed to the qualitative military edge." 

Biden said the funding would help to ensure that the Iron Dome "continues to guard the skies over Israel." 

"That means protecting civilians in combat as best as they can. And the people of Gaza urgently need food, water and medicine." 

The president also spoke to President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority Wednesday and said he "reiterated that the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people right to dignity and to self-determination." 

"The actions of Hamas terrorists don't take that right away," Biden said. 

But while Biden said he is "heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life," he stressed that the blast that killed hundreds in a hospital in Gaza "was not done by the Israelis." 

Israel declared war against Hamas after the terrorist group infiltrated the country on Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets at residential areas and brutally murdering more than one thousand civilians, while taking hundreds of others hostage. 

"The terrorist group Hamas unleashed pure, unadulterated evil in the world," Biden said. "But sadly, the Jewish people know perhaps better than anyone that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to inflict pain on others."

Biden added: "Hamas has a stated purpose for existing: it is a destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people."

But the president stressed that Hamas "does not represent the Palestinian people." 

"Hamas uses Palestinians civilians as human shields, and innocent Palestinian families are suffering greatly because of that," Biden said. 

At least 4,200 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 31 Americans. Palestinian health authorities say at least 2,808 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,950 wounded. 

More than 30 American citizens have died in Israel and 12 are left unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, the president shifted to Russia's war in Ukraine. 

"History has taught us that when terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, when dictators don't pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction--They keep going," Biden said. "And the cost and the threats to America and the world keep rising." 

He added: "If we don't stop Putin's appetite for power and control of Ukraine, he won't limit himself just to the Ukraine." 

Biden said Putin has "already threatened to remind, quote, remind Poland that their western land was a gift from Russia. One of his top advisors, a former president of Russia, has called Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Russia's Baltic provinces." 

"These are all NATO's allies. For 75 years, NATO's kept peace in Europe and has been the cornerstone of American security," Biden said. "And if Putin attacks NATO ally, we will defend every inch of NATO's, which the treaty requires and calls for, will have something that we do not seek." 

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.