By Alicia Diaz Bloomberg News (TNS) Tribune Media Services
Selma Bloody Sunday March 2024 The Rev. Al Sharpton, Vice President Kamala Harris and Attorney Ben Crump walk and sing across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with others commemorating the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday voting rights march in 1965, Sunday, March 3, 2024, in Selma, Ala.
Vice President Kamala Harris called for a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, including a deal in which hostages taken into the Gaza Strip in the Oct. 7 attack would be released.
The threat Hamas “poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated,” Harris said on Sunday in Selma, but she added too many Palestinian civilians have been caught up in the conflict. “Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table.”
U.S. officials said on Saturday that Israel had essentially agreed to a six-week cease-fire if Hamas hands over hostages categorized as vulnerable, including women, the ill or injured, and the elderly. Hamas said its delegates were traveling to Cairo to outline the group’s position.
The Biden administration has faced increasing political pressure to step in. U.S. and Jordanian forces airdropped about 38,000 meals on Saturday, with further airdrops planned, following an outbreak of violence last week in which hungry Palestinians were killed near an aid convoy in northern Gaza.
Israel’s military said it’s reviewing the incident after accounts that its forces fired on people trying to reach the aid trucks. Israel said most victims died in a stampede for the assistance.
A cease-fire has been a priority for Palestinian- Americans and progressives who have condemned the killings of civilians in Gaza. Roughly 100,000 voters, or more than 13%, turned in “uncommitted”primary ballots in Michigan after calls by activists. Protesters almost penetrated the security perimeter around the president’s motorcade in San Francisco last month. More than 30,000 Palestinians have died since the conflict began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. About 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel, and another 250 were kidnapped. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.“ Hamas claims it wantsa cease-fire. Well, there isa deal on the table, and as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal,” Harris said.
