U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday said she pressured Israel’s leader to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.
“The first phase of the deal would bring about a full ceasefire, including a withdrawal of the Israeli military from population centers in Gaza. In the second phase, the Israeli military would withdraw from Gaza entirely. And it will lead to a permanent end to the hostilities. It is time for this war to end.
It was part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington D.C. – he’d earlier addressed lawmakers in Congress and met with the U.S. President. A ceasefire has been the subject of negotiations for months.
U.S. officials believe the parties are closer than ever before to a deal for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing some hostages.
A White House readout said Biden met with Netanyahu earlier and told him that he needed to close gaps to reach a ceasefire and remove obstacles in the flow of aid.
While Harris, who is now the likely Democratic presidential nominee, mostly echoed Biden in firmly backing Israel’s right to defend itself she made clear on Thursday that she was losing patience with Israel’s military approach.
“I also expressed to the Prime Minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians. And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent. Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s retaliatory attack killed more than 39 000 people in the Gaza Strip.
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. The Gaza conflict has splintered the Democratic Party.
Protesters, pouring fake blood near the White House ahead of Biden’s meeting with Netanyahu, were just some of many over the months who had appeared at Biden events, angered at U.S. weapons shipments to Israel. Meanwhile, Netanyahu will meet Harris’ Republican rival, Donald Trump, on Friday at Mar-a-Lago.
Source: eNCA
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