Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called for a Gaza ceasefire when speaking with reporters after a Thursday meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister.
Harris stated that she conveyed to Benjamin Netanyahu, who addressed the United States Congress the previous day, her displeasure with the conflict’s civilian casualties and that "it is time" for the Jewish state to conclude its military efforts in the coastal enclave.
"What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating, the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced by 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 told reporters.
"I've said it many times, but it bears repeating," Harris continued, "Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters."
Harris’s comments appeared to be taking a stronger tone on the issue than that of President Joe Biden, suggesting that if elected to the nation’s highest office in November, she might be more assertive when dealing with Jerusalem regarding their nine-month-long campaign against Hamas terrorists.
Harris has made similar accusations towards Israeli operational conduct in the past, declaring while on an official trip to Dubai late last year that the IDF "must do more to protect civilian life" and describing the living conditions in Gaza as "inhumane" during a March civil rights event in Alabama.
Earlier this month, in an interview with The Nation, Harris expressed support for some of the actions of the antisemitic protesters that took over many American colleges this year, while insinuating that Palestinians do not have clean water to cook with, eat livestock feed, and lack access to menstrual products.
Allegations that Israel is mistreating the Palestinian population during its mission implementation have been strongly and repeatedly denied by the country’s senior defense officials. The IDF has always affirmed that they place no limits on the amount of aid that is allowed into the war zone and that any supply problems are the result of theft by local militants or inefficiencies by the humanitarian organizations tasked with distributing the assistance.
The Vice President’s comments come as the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Authority, which does not differentiate between the territory’s residents and combatants, reported that 39,000 Palestinians have been killed during the fighting.
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