LAS VEGAS, Oct 10 (Askume) – U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said on Thursday there was a need to reduce tensions in the Middle East, the regionThe wars in Gaza and Lebanon
Why is this important?
A ceasefire is unlikely in Gaza and Lebanon, where the region is bracing for an Israeli response to Iranian missile strikes in response to Israeli military action in Lebanon last week . No one was killed in Israel in the Iranian attack, which Washington described as ineffective.
For Gaza, President Joe Biden launched a three-phase ceasefire plan on May 31, after months of impasse over disagreements over Israel’s demands to maintain a corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and to swap Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners .
In Lebanon, Washington and Paris proposed a 21-day ceasefire at the end of September , but Israel rejected it.
Key Quotes
“We have to have a ceasefire,” Harris told reporters as she left Las Vegas, commenting on the situation in Gaza and Lebanon. “We have to downgrade.”
Washington’s periodic condemnation of Israeli civilian deaths in the war has been mostly rhetorical and has not led to any substantive change in policy.
situation
Latest bloodshed in decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflictIt began on October 7, 2023 , when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage, according to Israeli figures
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza killed approximately 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced almost the entire population, leading to World Court charges of famine and genocide , which Israel denies.
Recent Israeli actions in Lebanon have killed hundreds, injured thousands and displaced more than a million. Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants.
