Washington. The United States will not reduce its “pressure” on Israel and Middle Eastern countries to reach an agreement on hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris said in an interview published Sunday.
Washington is working with Israel on humanitarian aid and “the need to reach an agreement that releases the hostages and generates a ceasefire. And we are not going to stop putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including the Arab leaders,” Harris told CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is not listening,” he said, according to excerpts released this Sunday of an interview that CBS will publish in full on Monday.
The Democratic Party presidential candidate argued that US efforts have “resulted in a series of moves in the region by Israel.”
Referring to the recent Iranian missile attack on Israel, he insisted that it was “imperative for the United States to do everything possible to allow Israel to defend itself against such attacks.”
Israel was on high alert this Sunday ahead of the anniversary of the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
Israel has now turned its attention north, against the pro-Iran group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas in Lebanon, and has vowed to respond to the Iranian attack.
On October 7 last year Hamas and other Palestinian groups attacked Israel, killing 1,205 people, many of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry and considered reliable by the UN.
When asked by the interviewer if the United States has a “real, close ally” in Netanyahu, Harris responded that there is a “better question: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?”
“And the answer to that question is yes,” he said.
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– 2024-10-07 03:52:57
