Kamala Harris said she will “not be silent” over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza following a meeting with Israel’s prime minister.
The probable Democratic Party nominee as presidential candidate said she raised “serious concerns” with Benjamin Netanyahu in discussions at the White House on Thursday.
The meeting came after Mr Netanyahu met Mr Biden, who is pressing for a ceasefire and hostage release deal to be signed off by Israel and Hamas.
Commenting on her talk with the Israeli leader, Ms Harris said Israel had a right to defend itself, but pointedly added, “how it does so matters”.
The support for Israel from Joe Biden’s administration has come in for criticism in the US with protests on university campuses and in Washington.
While Ms Harris described Hamas as a “brutal terrorist organisation” whose 7 October attack on Israel started the war, there were a good number of moments in her post-meeting remarks designed to demonstrate the US expected much more from Mr Netanyahu.
Referring to the situation in Gaza, she said: “I also expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.
“And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there. With over two million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, 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 homes displaced for 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.”
Perhaps conscious she is already effectively in an election campaign at home, she gave details of the proposed ceasefire deal, including the release of the remaining hostages, some of whom are American.
She said the first step would be a “full ceasefire” which would include the withdrawal of the Israeli military from population centres in Gaza.
The second phase would see Israeli military withdrawal from the whole of Gaza, leading to a “permanent end to hostilities” and the release of hostages.
“It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination.
“And ultimately, I remain committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution.”
That is something Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected, claiming it is incompatible with Israel’s security.
Ms Harris had described her discussions with the Israeli prime minister as “frank” and her post-meeting statement contained an element of rebuke for Mr Netanyahu.
For his part, he will attempt to appeal to the other side of the American political coin when he visits Republican nominee Donald Trump later today at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
