The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, conveyed this Monday to the Minister of the Israeli War Government Benny Gantz – rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – the “deep concern” of her Government about the anguishing humanitarian situation in Gaza, in the course of of a meeting at the White House. Harris, according to the presidential office, has also urged Israel to take more measures to allow more humanitarian aid to enter the strip and to develop a “credible” humanitarian plan before attacking Rafah, where they are crowded. about 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority already refugees from other areas that Israel has bombed.
The meeting, the first in a series of meetings between Gantz and senior officials of the US Administration during his visit to Washington, comes as pressure increases for a six-week pause in the conflict that has already claimed the lives of more than 30,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health. Harris had urged on Sunday to launch this truce “immediately”, given the “inhumane” conditions of shortages and hunger in the strip.
The meeting took place despite the opposition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in the three and a half years of Joe Biden's mandate has not yet been received at the US presidential residence. The Israeli minister will meet in the coming days with the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan; the White House envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, and the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
In his daily press conference, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denied that these contacts could represent a gesture of criticism towards Netanyahu. “We met with Benny Gantz because he is one of the three members of the war government … who has a fundamental vote and a fundamental part in how this war is conducted.â€
“The vice president and Minister Gantz addressed the situation in Rafah and the need for a credible and feasible humanitarian plan before considering any major military operation, given the risks to civilians,” indicates the White House statement about the meeting.
Under pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and Arab American voters to back a permanent ceasefire, the White House, which at the beginning of the war in Gaza stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel, has in recent weeks adopted a relatively more critical rhetoric towards his ally. “People in Gaza are dying of hunger. The conditions are inhumane. And our shared humanity compels us to act,†Harris said in his speech in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday.
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The United States is pushing for a six-week humanitarian pause in the war, in talks that resumed on Sunday in Cairo but to which Israel has not sent representatives. It also demands a “credible†plan to protect civilians in Rafah before any offensive, and demands the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza, given that at present it barely arrives in dribs and drabs. This weekend the launch of humanitarian aid from the air to the Strip began.
Washington assures that maintaining support for its ally gives it the ability to exert pressure. But so far that ability has proven, at best, only relative. He acknowledges that he has not seen any protection plan for Rafah and that “too many innocent Palestinians have died.” Netanyahu insists that the war will continue until “total victory.” Humanitarian aid launches are a measure of last resort, expensive and ineffective, forced in this case by Israeli disinterest in facilitating access by land.
Meanwhile, Washington maintains its support for the offensive and is not considering suspending the military aid it provides in abundance; He also does not support a permanent ceasefire, and has vetoed a resolution in the United Nations Security Council that would have demanded a cessation of hostilities.
Biden, who has described himself as a “Zionist,” is paying a political price for that support. A majority of Democrats support a permanent ceasefire. In several States, a campaign has been launched to vote “undeclared”, the equivalent of a blank vote, in the party primaries. In Michigan, the first of them and with a significant Arab American population, 13.3% of the ballots received had marked that option. The president's popularity is at very low levels, having failed to take off throughout his three and a half years in office.
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