Kamala Harris Says US Govt Fully Supports Israel's "Right To Defend Itself" Against Hamas
The US Vice President said she can offer no word that justifies any other feeling in terms of the loss of life is Gaza except that "it's tragic".
By Reuters — 03 Nov 2023, 07:43 AM
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, 2 November, said the US would not seek to impose "any conditions on the support" it gives "Israel to defend itself" in the wake of the 7 October attacks by Hamas
"We are going to continue to stand with Israel's right to defend itself," Harris said during a news conference in the UK following the conclusion of an AI Safety Summit.
"And let's be clear and never forget what happened on 7 October, where hundreds of thousands, 1,400 innocent people were killed, slaughtered. Young people who were simply attending a concert. And so, we are not going to create any conditions on the support that we are giving Israel to defend itself."
The US Vice President said she can offer no word that justifies any other feeling in terms of the loss of life is Gaza except that "it's tragic"
"I have seen, as you have, I'm sure, the images, the photographs of the loss of civilian life in Gaza. And it is heartbreaking. The injury and death to children," she said.
"I have a friend who I talked with recently who has family in Gaza and has lost a number of the members of her family, innocent civilians. So let me start by saying that it is absolutely tragic when there is ever anywhere, any loss of innocent life, of innocent civilians, of children. And there is no word that I can offer you that justifies any other feeling in terms of the loss of that life. It's tragic," she added.
The latest war in the decades-old conflict began when Hamas fighters broke through the border on 7 October, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages, Israel says, in the deadliest day of its 75-year-old history.
Israel's ensuing bombardment of the small Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people has killed at least 9,061 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
