Key Points
- Kamala Harris has made the strongest rebuke of Israel by a US administration official since the war started.
- The US vice president called for a six-week ceasefire and criticised Israel over insufficient aid deliveries.
- The comments come as envoys from the US, Qatar and Hamas arrived in Cairo for ceasefire negotiations.
US Vice President Kamala Harris has called for a proposed six-week ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war to be accepted, while criticising Israel over insufficient aid deliveries into Gaza.
"Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table," Harris said during a speech in Selma, Alabama on Monday.
Her comments were the strongest to date by a US administration official on Israel since the war started, as President Joe Biden comes under acute pressure over his support for Israel and the civilian death toll in Gaza soars.
A senior US official said on Saturday that Israel had broadly accepted the deal, which would see a six-week cessation of hostilities if Hamas agrees to release the most vulnerable hostages it holds.
The deal "will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid in", Harris said, calling on Hamas to accept the deal.
"Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal."
Envoys from the United States, Qatar and Hamas arrived in Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian state-linked media reported, the latest effort towards a six-week truce, stepped-up aid deliveries and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has reported that Israel is refusing to send a delegation to the Cairo talks due to Hamas not fulfilling its request for a list of Israeli hostages still alive in Gaza.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas' 7 October attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government.
More than 30,410 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The 7 October attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
'No excuses'
In unusually strong language, Harris called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps to increase aid into Gaza.
"The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses," Harris said.
Harris is due to meet with Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel's war cabinet, in Washington on Monday.
An agreement would bring the first extended truce of the war, which has raged for five months so far with just a week-long pause in November.
Dozens of hostages held by the militants would be freed in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees.
But the proposal appears to stop short of fulfilling the main Hamas demand for a permanent end to the war, while also leaving unresolved the fate of more than half of the more than 100 remaining hostages — including Israeli men not covered by terms to free women, children, the elderly and wounded.
