US vice president calls for immediate cease-fire in Gaza

WASHINGTON

US Vice President Kamala Harris called Sunday for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

During remarks in Alabama to mark the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the day state law officers attacked Civil Rights demonstrators on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Harris said the threat posed by the Palestinian group Hamas to Israel must be eliminated.

“And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table,” she added.

She said the cease-fire would get hostages out and much-needed aid into Gaza.

"This would allow us to build something more enduring to ensure Israel is secure and to respect the right of the Palestinian people to dignity, freedom and self-determination,” she said.

Harris described the situation in Gaza as "devastating.”

"We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed, women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration," she said.

"As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. And just a few days ago, we saw hungry, desperate people approach aid trucks, simply trying to secure food for their families after weeks of nearly no aid reaching northern Gaza. And they were met with gunfire and chaos."

"Our hearts break for the victims of that horrific tragedy and for all the innocent people in Gaza who are suffering from what is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe," she said. "People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act.”

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border incursion by Hamas on Oct. 7. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed 30,410 people and injured 71,700 others with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.