Speaking with comedian Stephen Colbert, Vice President Kamala Harris calls for ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas ‘as immediate as possible,’ says expanding Middle East conflict must end.
By World Israel News Staff
Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate halt to fighting in the Middle East, even as the war between Israel and Iran’s proxies continues to escalate with an expanding conflict in Lebanon and an anticipated Israeli reprisal against Iran following a recent ballistic missile attack.
Speaking with comedian Stephen Colbert Tuesday night, Harris responded to a question regarding the Gaza war and repeated claims since December that a second ceasefire deal and hostage release were in the offing.
Harris called for an end to the fighting “as immediately as possible,” saying that the war between Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, and Yemenite Houthis “has got to end. It’s got to end.”
“We cannot lose some belief in its possibility. Because, to your point, we throw up our hands instead of rolling up our sleeves. But it is complex. It is a conversation that requires probably more time than you and I have right now.”
The vice president noted that many of the issues essential to a truce and hostage deal have been worked out in negotiations, while admitting that without a deal such progress “is meaningless.”
“Close means that a lot of the details have been worked out, but details remained,” Harris said.
“And so there has been some progress. But it is meaningless unless a deal is actually reached. So, I don’t want to suggest to you that we should be applauded for getting close at times to a deal. The reality of it is that 1,200 people were massacred. There are still hostages being held in Gaza.”
Harris mentioned her meetings with the families of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, and with relatives of Gazans killed in the ongoing war, saying that the U.S. must continue to pursue a permanent ceasefire in the coastal enclave.
“There is pain, pain and suffering that is happening in that region of the world, and we must work, and the United States must work and not lose hope and not throw up our hands around the role we must play in urging and seeking and building toward a resolution.”
“And the first thing that’s going to unlock that is that we’ve got to get a deal done. We’re not going to give up.”
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