The humanitarian situation in Gaza , in the eyes of US Vice President Kamala Harris , is " terrible ". So much so that, even if " Israel has the right to defend itself , we cannot turn our backs on what is happening , we cannot become insensitive to it. I will not remain silent." The number two in the White House assured this at the end of her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in what was her first foreign policy test since Joe Biden supported her for the presidential race.
“As I told Netanyahu, it's time to close the deal” for the ceasefire and bring the hostages home, the vice president said, speaking from the White House. “To all those calling for a ceasefire and screaming for peace, I see you and I hear you. Let's make the agreement", he added after the "frank and constructive" meeting with Netanyahu at the Ceremonial Office lasting more than half an hour. He also reiterated his "unshakable" commitment to Israel and its security to the Prime Minister: Israel has "the right to defend itself but how it defends itself is important". With more than two million people struggling with high levels of food insecurity and more than half a million facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, “what has happened in Gaza over the last nine months is devastating,” he added. "We cannot turn away in the face of these tragedies", he then reiterated, urging Americans not to see the war in Gaza "as a black or white fact because the situation is more complex".
Statements which, however, did not convince Israel, according to which the deputy's words "damage the negotiations for the release of the hostages and should be rejected". According to an Israeli official, quoted by the media, in the meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered Harris a "detailed and factual" account of the situation on the ground in Gaza which contradicted Harris' statements "about the food crisis, the suffering of civilians and the high number of innocent people killed."
(Unioneonline)
