In a press conference Wednesday about the current ceasefire in Gaza, President Obama declared he has “no sympathy” for Hamas, but “great sympathy” for suffering Palestinians, adding, "It is important to remember that Hamas acts extraordinarily irresponsibly when it is deliberately siting rocket launchers in population centers.”

The president was asked if he agreed with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion that the campaign in Gaza was both “justified" and "proportionate." Obama offered a dual-sided answer, roundly criticizing Hamas, but saying he wants to “find a formula” that would not leave Palestinians "walled off" from prosperity:

I have no sympathy for Hamas. I have great sympathy for ordinary people who are struggling within Gaza. And the question then becomes can we find a formula in which Israel has greater assurance that Gaza will not be a launching pad for further attacks, perhaps more dangerous attacks as technology develops, into their country—but at the same time, ordinary Palestinians have some prospects for an opening of Gaza so that they do not feel walled off and incapable of pursuing basic prosperity.

Though Obama did not directly criticize Israel Wednesday, he did emphasize his "distress at what's happened to innocent civilians, including women and children." The current goal, he said was to make sure the 72-hour ceasefire (negotiated by Egypt, not the administration) held:

The U.S. goal right now would be to make sure that the ceasefire holds, that Gaza can begin the process of rebuilding, and that some measures are taken so that the people of Gaza feel some sense of hope and so the people of Israel feel confident that they're not going to have a repeat of the kind of rocket launches that we've seen over the last several weeks.

During the press conference, the president also commented on the reason that Israel began the Gaza campaign:

I have said from the beginning that no country would tolerate rockets being launched into their cities. As a consequence, I have consistently supported Israel's right to defend itself, and that includes doing what it needs to do to prevent rockets from landing on population centers and, more recently as we learned, preventing tunnels from being dug under their territory that can be used to launch terrorist attacks.

Partial transcript via Huffington Post; video via The Hill.