Harris, Democratic presidential nominee after Biden, did not mince words about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza
\n WASHINGTON
\nUS Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.
\n\u201cIt is time for this war to end,\u201d Harris said in a televised statement after she held face-to-face talks with Netanyahu.
\nHarris, 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.
\n\u201cWe cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,\u201d she said.
\nHarris\u2019 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 Nov. 5. But analysts do not expect there would be a major shift in US Open policy toward Israel, Washington\u2019s closest ally in the Middle East..
\nIsrael\u2019s retaliatory attack in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people and caused a humanitarian calamity with most of the coastal enclave leveled, people displaced from their homes, famine and a shortage of emergency relief. Biden met with Netanyahu earlier and told him that 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.
\nNetanyahu will meet Harris\u2019 Republican rival, Donald Trump, on Friday at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
\nA ceasefire has been the subject of negotiations for months. U.S. officials believe the parties are closer than ever before to an agreement for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release by Hamas of women, sick, elderly and wounded hostages.
\n\u201cThere 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,\u201d Harris said.
\nAlthough as vice president she has mostly echoed Biden in firmly backing Israel\u2019s right to defend itself, she made clear on Thursday that she was losing patience with Israel\u2019s military approach.
\n\u201cIsrael has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,\u201d Harris said.
\nIn March, she bluntly stated that Israel was not doing enough to ease a \u201chumanitarian catastrophe\u201d during its ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave. Later, she did not rule out \u201cconsequences\u201d for Israel if it launched a full-scale invasion of refugee-packed Rafah in southern Gaza.
\nA divided party
\nThe Gaza conflict has splintered the Democratic Party, and sparked months of protests at Biden events. A drop in support among Arab Americans could hurt Democratic chances in Michigan, one of a handful of states likely to decide the Nov. 5 election.
\nIn a nod to those concerns, Harris urged Americans to help \u201cencourage efforts to understand the complexity, the nuance and the history of the region.\u201d
\n\u201cTo everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you,\u201d she said. \u201cLet\u2019s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war.\u201d
\nIn an Oval Office address on Wednesday, Biden cited a desire for unity in the Democratic Party as it seeks to defeat Trump as a main reason he decided not to seek reelection but to instead support Harris for the 2024 race.
\nHarris maintains closer ties to Democratic progressives, some of whom have urged Biden to attach conditions to US weapons shipments to Israel out of concern for high Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza. The US is a major arms supplier to Israel and has protected the country from critical United Nations votes.
\nBiden and Netanyahu met together with the families of Americans held by Hamas, who expressed hope for a ceasefire including a release of hostages. \u201cWe came today with a sense of urgency,\u201d said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son is a captive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Harris, Democratic presidential nominee after Biden, did not mince words about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza WASHINGTON US Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden. \u201cIt is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-420964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n