Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, saying Hamas should agree to the six-week pause currently being discussed and that Israel should increase the flow of aid to the besieged enclave amid a humanitarian crisis.
Ms. Harris’s comments, delivered in Selma, Alabama, underscored President Joe Biden’s latest push for an agreement and came a day before her meeting with a senior Israeli Cabinet official involved in war planning, Benny Gantz. Her tone reflected a sharper and more urgent tone coming from the White House, whose frustration with Israel is growing. Last month, the president called Israel’s response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7 “excessive.”
Ms. Harris criticized the dire conditions in Gaza, calling the situation a “humanitarian disaster.” It was her most stark assessment yet of the Middle East conflict, which Gaza health authorities say has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and pushed the enclave to the brink of famine.
“What we see every day in Gaza is devastating,” Ms. Harris said. “We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed. Women give birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care. And children die from malnutrition and dehydration. As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”
“The threat that Hamas poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated,” Ms. Harris added. “And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire, at least for the next six weeks.”
Mr. Biden is pushing for a deal between Hamas and Israel that would allow for the release of hostages and a temporary ceasefire until Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins around March 10. U.S. officials said Israel has “more or less accepted” terms of the deal, but Hamas has yet to agree to it.
Ms. Harris reiterated the United States’ support for Israel’s right to defend itself against the ongoing threat of Hamas, which she said has no regard for innocent lives in Israel or the Gaza Strip. Ms. Harris called Hamas a “brutal terrorist organization” that poses a threat to Israel and should be eliminated.
“Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire,” she said. “Well, there’s a deal on the table.”
Ms. Harris spoke at a time when the political consequences of the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel are increasingly coming into focus. While Mr. Biden has increasingly criticized Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack, his rejection of calls for a permanent ceasefire and a series of previous missteps in which he showed a lack of compassion for the Palestinians have divided the Democratic Party. They have also alienated key voters, including black, young and Arab American voters.
War opponents and pro-Palestinian demonstrators have followed Mr. Biden to events across the country to protest his support of Israel in the war. Prominent black faith leaders have called on the government to end financial support for Israel, claiming its military campaign amounts to “mass genocide.”
Perhaps the clearest warning sign yet was the fact that more than 100,000 people, including many Arab Americans, voted “non-binding” in Michigan’s primary election last week – a preview of what could unfold in other key swing states contributed to the election of Mr. Biden in 2020.
Ms Harris also said on Sunday that Israel must do more to allow aid to flow into Gaza, including opening new border crossings, lifting unnecessary restrictions on aid deliveries and restoring services to Gaza.
“The people of Gaza are starving,” Ms. Harris said. “The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act.”
She condemned a scene that unfolded on Thursday when more than 100 Gazans desperate for food boarded an aid convoy and were met with what Ms. Harris called “chaos and gunfire” after Israel opened fire the crowd had opened.
Israeli and Palestinian officials and witnesses have given different accounts of the incident, with Israeli officials blaming the crush of the crowd for most of the deaths, while witnesses reported extensive firing by Israeli forces.
“The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid,” Ms. Harris said. “No excuses.”
Ms. Harris’s remarks, delivered at a commemoration of Bloody Sunday, a major civil rights event in 1965, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, drew intermittent applause from the crowd.
On March 7, 1965, black Americans were beaten on the bridge by white police officers because they were marching for their right to vote. The event was widely credited with mobilizing support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was passed five months later.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.
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2024-03-04 06:29:17
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