US Vice President Kamala Harris has pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than US President Joe Biden.
“It is time for this war to end,” Harris said on Thursday in a televised statement after face-to-face talks with Netanyahu.
Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the election race on Sunday, did not mince words about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza after nine months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.
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“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.
Harris’ remarks were sharp and serious in tone and raised the question of whether she would be more aggressive in dealing with Netanyahu if elected president on November 5.
However, analysts do not expect there would be a major shift in US policy toward Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East.
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1200 people and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory attack in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people and caused a humanitarian calamity with most of the coastal enclave levelled, people displaced from their homes, famine and a shortage of emergency relief.
Biden met with Netanyahu earlier and told him he needed to close gaps to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and remove obstacles in the flow of aid, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House.
Netanyahu will meet Harris’ Republican rival, Donald Trump, on Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Vice President Kamala Harris met at the White House on Thursday. Credit: AAP
A ceasefire has been the subject of negotiations for months. US officials believe the parties are closer than ever before to an agreement for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing women, sick, elderly and wounded hostages.
“There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal and, as I just told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done,” Harris said.
Although as vice president she has 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.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Harris said.
In March, she bluntly stated that Israel was not doing enough to ease a “humanitarian catastrophe” during its ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
Later, she did not rule out “consequences” for Israel if it launched a full-scale invasion of refugee-packed Rafah in southern Gaza.
