Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz met with United States Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday amid bombing in Gaza, The National reported.
National Unity Party leader Gantz, a retired general and former Israeli defence minister, is reported to have infuriated his long-time rival Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a visit to Washington this week.
Israeli opinion polls show Gantz well ahead of Netanyahu, who has become increasingly unpopular as the war in the Gaza Strip drags on. Gerald Steinberg, a professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, stated:
There is also a rivalry. There’s competition between them and it’s clear that as Israeli politics returns to some form of normality over the next few months, we could see Gantz departing the government and an election.
The White House backed the meeting between Harris and Gantz, arguing it was a chance to emphasise Washington’s increased interest in expanding humanitarian aid in the war-torn region. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby declared:
“A member of the war cabinet from Israel wants to come to United States, wants to talk to us about the progress of that war, giving us an opportunity to talk about the importance of getting humanitarian assistance, increased opportunity to talk about the importance of this hostage deal. We’re not going to turn away that sort of opportunity.”
Harris “urged Israel to take additional measures in co-operation with the United States and international partners to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and ensure its safe distribution to those in need.”
Gantz is also expected to meet with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. The meeting between Gantz and Harris came a day after she called for “immediate ceasefire,” the strongest call by the US official since the Israeli war in Gaza was launched.
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. This will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid in.
Over 30,500 people have been killed in nearly five months of fighting in the densely populated enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The US dropped dozens of pallets of food over the Gaza Strip on Saturday in an attempt to bring much-needed humanitarian aid to the besieged area. The United States, which had previously been reluctant to carry out such a mission, was forced to act after 115 Palestinians were killed and more than 700 were injured as they tried to take aid from a truck.
Washington is trying to broker a ceasefire agreement before Ramadan, which is expected to begin around 10 March.
