At the White House on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Harris expressed her ‘deep concern’ over the humanitarian situation in Gaza during their meeting.
In Washington, demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest against the war in Gaza as Netanyahu met with Harris.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to these tragedies. We cannot afford to become insensitive to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” Harris declared.
This visit marks Netanyahu’s first to the White House since 2020. It follows a controversial speech in which he promised ‘total victory’ over Hamas and labeled American opponents of the Gaza war as ‘idiots’. Netanyahu also asserted that an Israeli ‘victory’ would be a victory for the United States, urging the US to release further military aid.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Harris came after a meeting with outgoing President Joe Biden, who is pressing for Israel and Hamas to sign a ceasefire agreement before his term ends in January.
With negotiations at a standstill for weeks, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as ‘total anarchy’.
“We are in a situation of total anarchy. A situation where the law and the rules have completely disappeared. No one is in charge of security in Gaza. So we are seeing convoys being looted at every moment,” Guterres warned.
Since the start of the nine-month war, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza following a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people.