After the Netanyahu visit: I will not be silent about Harris in the Gaza Strip
"It's time for this agreement to be finalized," said Harris to reporters and continued, expressing her "serious concern" over the "extent of human suffering in Gaza, including the deaths of far too many innocent civilians." It's time to end the "devastating" war, said the US Vice President.
The 59-year-old spoke of "images of dead children and desperate hungry people" who would be fleeing, some of whom had been driven out "sometimes for the second, third or fourth time." "We cannot turn a blind eye to these tragedies," said Harris further. "We cannot remain insensible to the suffering, and I will not be silent." She had expressed her "serious concern" over the "catastrophic humanitarian situation there" directly to Netanyahu in their "frank" conversation.
Harris had used stronger words about the situation in the Gaza Strip than US President Joe Biden in the past. This had given rise to speculation that she might take a harder stance towards Israel.
In his speech before the US Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip and was greeted with applause and cheers from Trump's Republicans, while Biden's Democrats remained noticeably restrained. The Israeli Prime Minister thanked Trump "for everything he has done for Israel."
Netanyahu was to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday. On Thursday morning, former President Trump had appealed to Netanyahu on Fox News to "end the Gaza war quickly."
Before his conversation with Harris, Netanyahu had already met with US President Biden on Thursday. The White House stated that Biden had expressed the need to "close the remaining gaps, finalize the agreement as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and achieve a permanent end to the war in Gaza." Both politicians had also spoken about the "humanitarian crisis" in the Palestinian territory and the need to remove obstacles in the provision of aid.
Later, Biden and Netanyahu met with the families of the US hostages held in the Gaza Strip, who described the meeting as "productive" and "honest." "We are probably more optimistic than we have been since the first round of releases at the end of November," said the father of a US hostage, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, to reporters after the meeting.
There had been an one-week truce in the past November, during which Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The US, Qatar, and Egypt have been acting as mediators to resolve the fighting between Israel and Hamas for months, but no agreement has been reached yet.
The US has supported its close ally Israel militarily and diplomatically since the unprecedented attack by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas on the country on October 7. However, there have been irritations and differences between the two governments over Israel's military actions.
- Kamala Harris expressed her concerns directly to Benjamin Netanyahu about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, advocating for an end to the suffering.
- Unlike Joe Biden, Harris has used stronger words regarding the situation in Gaza, leading to speculations about her potential harder stance towards Israel.
- During his speech before the US Congress, Netanyahu defended Israel's actions in Gaza and received support from Trump's Republicans, while Biden's Democrats remained restrained.
- Netanyahu was initially scheduled to meet with Donald Trump at his estate in Florida, with Trump urging him to end the Gaza war quickly before their meeting.
- Following their meeting with Netanyahu, both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris emphasized the need to close remaining gaps, finalize the agreement, bring hostages home, and end the war in Gaza.
- Despite the US's long-standing support for Israel militarily and diplomatically, there have been tensions and disagreements between the two governments over Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip.
