US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that she expressed concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting at the White House.
“I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over 2 million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity,” Harris told reporters after the closed-door meeting with Netanyahu.
The meeting came a day after Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress, where he claimed that the conflict in Gaza has “one of the lowest ratios of combatants to non-combatant casualties in the history of urban warfare”.
Harris said that what has happened in Gaza over the past nine months was “devastating”.
“The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time.
“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent,” she added.
Earlier, Netanyahu met with US President Joe Biden, who ended his presidential re-election campaign on Sunday and endorsed Harris to replace him as the Democratic presidential candidate.
With her remarks, Harris reflected a major shift in Gaza policy, while urging Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire in the besieged enclave.
“Thanks to the leadership of our president, Joe Biden, there is a deal on the table for a ceasefire and a hostage deal…I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu it is time to get this deal done,” she added.
On May 31, Biden said that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a ceasefire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
“Let’s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war. Let’s bring the hostages home, and let’s provide much-needed relief to the Palestinian people,” Harris said.
Harris also stressed that she remains committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
“I know right now it is hard to conceive of that prospect, but a two-state solution is the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure Jewish and democratic state, and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realise the freedom, security, and prosperity that they rightly deserve,” she added.
Harris stated that she assured Netanyahu of her unwavering commitment to ensuring Israel’s ability to defend itself.
“I told him (Netanyahu) that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran-backed militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah,” Harris told reporters after meeting with Netanyahu.
“From when I was a young girl, collecting funds to plant trees for Israel, to my time in the United States Senate and now at the White House, I’ve had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security and to the people of Israel,” she added.
Harris reaffirmed her backing of Tel Aviv’s right to self-defence and denounced Palestinian resistance group Hamas as a “brutal terrorist organisation”.
“On Oct 7, Hamas triggered this war when it massacred 1,200 innocent people, including 44 Americans. Hamas has committed horrific acts of sexual violence and took 250 hostages,” she said.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct 7 attack by Hamas.
Nearly 39,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,400 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the deadly fighting before it was invaded on May 6.
