Kamala Harris' blunt Gaza words reflect intense government frustration over war

4/3/2024 12:17

        U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris bluntly called out Israel on Sunday for not doing enough to ease a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza as the Biden administration faces increasing pressure to rein in its close ally while it wages war with Hamas militants.
        
        Harris, speaking in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers beat U.S. civil rights marchers nearly six decades ago, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a 6-week cessation of hostilities.
        
        But she directed the bulk of her comments at Israel in what appeared to be the sharpest rebuke yet by a senior leader in the U.S. government over the conditions in the coastal enclave.
        
        "People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane and our common humanity compels us to act, the Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses," Harris said.