“Any major military operation in Gaza would be a huge mistake,” US Vice President Kamala Harris told ABC News in an interview aired Sunday.
“I have studied the maps; there’s nowhere for those folks to go, and we’re looking at about a million and a half people in Rafah who are there because they were told to go there,” Harris added.
On Israeli elections, Harris told ABC that it is “on the Israeli people to make a decision about when they will have an election and who they elect.”
Harris made the comment after ABC asked if US President Biden's description of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s speech, in which he called for an election in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a “good speech” meant there should be elections in Israel.
When asked if Netanyahu was “an obstacle to peace,” Harris avoided answering the question directly, responding that the administration must “continue to enforce what we know to be and should be the priorities in terms of what is happening in Gaza.”
She also added that “we have been very clear far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”Defense Minister Yoav Gallant traveled to Washington on Sunday for an official visit. He was invited to meet senior US officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and CIA head William Burns.
“The focus of the trip is maintaining Israel’s qualitative edge,” said Gallant, who added that the trip would also focus on acquiring munitions. “Not less important is the relationship with the US and the shared need to obtain our objectives in Gaza,” added Gallant, listing the return of the hostages and defeating Hamas as shared goals.
“We will also deal with how we will return citizens of the north to their homes through military action or an agreement,” Gallant added.
'In the hell of Gaza'
German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock also commented on the situation in Gaza, saying that “in the hell of Gaza, more than one million children, women, and men are at the risk of starvation,” in a post on X Sunday.
“This cannot go on for another day. We leave no stone unturned with our partners. The Israeli government must finally open the border crossings to a lot more aid,” she added.
Baerbock added that Germany stands by their “responsibility for Israel’s security: Hamas must lay down its arms and must never bring terror to Israel again. But the goal cannot be achieved purely militarily. And military action has its limits in international humanitarian law.”
She also called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to Baerbock, saying that Israel expects “our friends to continue supporting Israel during these challenging times and not weaken it against the terrorist organization Hamas.
“A humanitarian ceasefire cannot be upheld without including the release of Israeli hostages. We must continue to work together to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Katz said in a post on X, responding to Baerbock.
Details about a possible hostage deal, which Israel has reportedly approved and to which Hamas has yet to respond, were reported by Israeli media Sunday.
Israel has agreed to release between 700 and 800 Palestinian prisoners as part of a ceasefire and hostage release deal, Israeli media reported, citing Israeli officials.
The terrorists agreed upon for release by Israel include hundreds who are serving life sentences for murdering Israelis in terror attacks, Walla's Barak Ravid further reported. In return, 40 hostages will be released by Hamas, reports said.
The South African representative to the conference of the International Union of Parliaments in Geneva accused Israel on Sunday of crimes against humanity and called to stop the war in Gaza immediately.
MK Danny Dannon, Israel's representative at the conference, responded by calling the South African representative a "terror supporter" and saying that "Israel was dragged into a war with the terror organization Hamas against its will."
Jerusalem Post staff Tovah Lazaroff and Hannah Sarisohn from New York contributed to this report.