Biden was joined by second gentleman Doug Emhoff and a group of White House officials descended from Holocaust survivors who lit the White House menorah.
Refaat Alareer (left) sits with his friends and colleagues, Yousef Aljamal (center) and Jehad Abusalim (right), on the Staten Island Ferry in New York during a book tour in 2014.
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His death on Thursday sparked tributes from friends, colleagues and students across the globe.
The Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo described the death toll, the destruction and the humanitarian situation brought about by the war in Gaza as "alarming."
A professor of comparative literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, Alareer was famed for his role in chronicling Gazan experiences. He was instrumental in nurturing young Palestinian writers and helped them tell their stories in English, according to friends and colleagues.
Alareer began teaching literature, creative writing, poetry, translation and Shakespeare at the Islamic University of Gaza in 2007. He described himself as a writer and educator.
“It’s something we don’t talk about. We don’t even want to think about how these kids, the homes, the lives (that) get destroyed again and again every few years,” he recalled.
“Even the slamming of a door sometimes brings you these memories,” he said “That’s why we usually say there is no post-war trauma for Palestinians. It’s nonstop.”
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He had written a poem anticipating that he might be killed, titled “If I must die.”
Rawan Yaghi, who was taught by Alareer and is now a 30-year-old writer based in Canada, said he was a “leader of literary resistance.”
Senior Gaza health official describes Israel’s expanded military presence in Jabalya refugee camp
Separately, the leaders of Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta wrote a letter to the European Council chief calling for a discussion of a ceasefire at an upcoming European Union summit.
