Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz at the White House on Monday. According to a White House official, the U.S. is attempting to negotiate a temporary cease-fire agreement so that more humanitarian aid can enter Gaza and hostages can be freed.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked Gantz's visit to Washington, reported AP, indicating growing friction in the nation's leadership. An official from Netanyahu's party said Gantz's trip was planned without authorization from the Israeli leader. "Netanyahu had a tough talk with Gantz and told him the country has just one prime minister," said a source to AP.
Most opinion polls indicate that since the war began, Netanyahu's popularity has decreased. Many Israelis blame him for not intervening to stop Hamas' cross-border raid on October 7, which claimed the lives of 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others, mostly women, children, and elderly people, according to Israeli officials.
According to a report by NBC news, Harris is expected to talk about the necessity of a temporary cease-fire agreement and hostage exchange, and the distribution of increased aid and humanitarian support in the region. The US has carried out its first air drop of aid in Gaza in an operation with the Jordanian air force. More than 30,000 meals were parachuted into the war-torn zone.
She also expects to discuss postwar plans to rebuild Gaza which would be governed by the Palestinian Authority.
Amid tensions between the Israeli government and the Biden administration, Gantz will also meet with Republican and Democratic members of Congress as well as with senior members of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
National security adviser Jake Sullivan is also said to meet separately with Gantz, according to the White House.
President Joe Biden will not be present at the meeting, officials said. Although Netanyahu met with US President Joe Biden in New York in September 2023, he has not travelled to Washington since taking office at the end of December 2022. Later that month, Biden travelled to Israel as well.
Gantz, who is also a former IDF chief-of-staff and defense minister, on his way back is said to stop in the UK for a series of diplomatic meetings.
On the other hand, negotiations to mediate a cease-fire before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan next week were under way in Egypt.
The number of Palestinians killed in the war surpassed 30,000 this week, according to Gazan health officials. More than 100 Palestinians were killed on Thursday after Israeli forces opened fire around a convoy of aid trucks in northern Gaza that crowds had descended on in a desperate attempt to get food.
