US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are "working around the clock" to "get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done," Harris said at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, as she formally accepted her party's nomination for president.
Toward the end of her 40-minute-long remarks—which concluded shortly after 10 p.m. local time and which varied, with respect to Israel, only slightly from prepared remarks that her campaign circulated to press—Harris expressed strong support for both the Jewish state and the Palestinian people.
"Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself," Harris said. "Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organisation called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival."
"At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating," the vice president added, to loud applause. "So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking."
