Harris conveys support for Netanyahu while expressing concern for ‘human suffering’ in Gaza

The vice president urges him to reach a ceasefire agreement and release of hostages to end the war

Jul 26. (EUROPA PRESS) –

US Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to express her support for the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and to express her concern for the “human suffering” experienced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli attacks.

“I just had a frank and constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I told him that I will always ensure that Israel can defend itself, (…) I have always had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security and to the people of Israel. I have said this many times, but it bears repeating. Israel has the right to defend itself, and how it does so is important,” Harris told reporters shortly after the meeting.

In this regard, he recalled that “Hamas is a brutal regime” that “massacred” 1,200 people in the attacks of October 7, when it also “committed horrible acts of sexual violence” and kidnapped some 240 people, including American citizens who remain captive in the Strip,

“I have also expressed to the Prime Minister my deep concern at the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the deaths of too many innocent civilians. And I have made clear my concern at the dire humanitarian situation there, with more than two million people facing high levels of food insecurity, and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity,” he added.

Harris said the situation in the Palestinian enclave was “devastating” and that “images of dead children” and “desperately hungry people fleeing” cannot continue to be produced.

This is why the UN has urged Hamas to reach an agreement with Hamas to achieve a ceasefire that would allow the release of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

“Thanks to the leadership of our President, Joe Biden, there is an agreement on the table for a ceasefire and a hostage deal, and it is important that we remember what the deal entails. The first phase of the deal would entail a full ceasefire, including the withdrawal of the Israeli military from population centers in Gaza. In the second phase, the Israeli military would withdraw completely from Gaza, marking a permanent end to hostilities. It is time for this war to end,” he added.

He also stressed that the conflict must end with a secure State of Israel and with the option for the Palestinian people “to exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination” through a two-state solution.