In an interview with Spectrum News, Vice President Harris described the conversation between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier Thursday – their first since an airstrike killed seven aid workers earlier this week – as "candid and frank."
"I was on that call," Harris said in Charlotte, North Carolina. "It was a candid and frank conversation. We have made clear, and the president has made clear, of course, that we will support and make sure that Israel is never left without an ability to defend itself."
"At the same time," she warned, "if there are not changes to their approach, it is very likely we're going to change our approach."
According to a readout of the call from the White House, Biden told the prime minister that the strikes on the seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen and the overall humanitarian situation in Gaza were “unacceptable” and that an “immediate" cease-fire "is essential.”
“He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home,” the statement from the White House read.
The president also told Netanyahu that Israel must craft “specific, concrete and measurable” steps to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the safety of aid workers in the Palestinian territory.
“He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps,” the statement said.
Seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen — a humanitarian aid organization founded by chef Jose Andrés that frequently parachutes into areas facing crisis-levels of food insecurity, including war zones like Gaza, areas recovering from national disasters and parts of the U.S. during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 — were killed Monday night in an apparent Israeli airstrike, as they returned from an aid mission.
The killing of the seven workers kicked off a wave of anger, including from the White House. Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a staunch Biden ally in the U.S. Senate, called on Thursday for the conditioning of U.S. aid to Israel.
“I think we’re at that point,” Coons said on CNN on Thursday. “If Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister, were to order the [Israeli Defense Force] into Rafah at scale, if they were to drop 1,000 pound bonds and send in a battalion to go after Hamas and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, then I would vote to condition aid to Israel.”
“I’ve never said that before. I’ve never been here before. I’ve been a strong supporter of Israel the whole time I’ve served in Congress,” he added.
About 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began with Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. World Central Kitchen was part of an effort that delivered tens of millions of meals to Palestinians as the World Health Organization warns “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, with 677,000 already “experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.” The U.N. paused nighttime relief operations in the aftermath of the killings of the World Central Kitchen workers.
The phone call between the pair marks their first since March 18, when Biden requested that Netanyahu send an Israeli delegation to Washington to hear the Biden administration’s pitch on an alternative approach to an invasion of Rafah that avoids a major ground operation.
The prime minister then canceled the delegation after the U.S. abstained rather than vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages.
Days later, the White House confirmed that Netanyahu has agreed to reschedule the meeting and on Monday, U.S. and Israeli officials met virtually to discuss Rafah.
Tensions have flared over Israel’s potential military operation in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than one million civilians are taking refuge amid the monthslong war.
Netanyahu continues to insist that an invasion of Rafah is the necessary next step in its campaign to eliminate Hamas following the group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people. The White House has made clear it doesn’t support a full ground operation without a plan to protect civilians in the city, which National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby last week described as a “difficult chore” for any military.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population has fled to the southern city of Rafah as war rages in the territory’s north. Israel has said it plans to launch a full-scale invasion of the city, a move Biden and most Democrats oppose without a significant decline in Israel’s killing of civilian men, women and children. But Biden has not said what consequences, if any, he would implement if the United States’ closest Middle East ally went forward with their plan.
Harris was in North Carolina to take part in a green energy event following an announcement from the White House it selected eight applicants to split $20 billion in grants from competitions under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, seeking to bolster the administration's commitment to reducing climate change emissions. She also separately opened a new campaign office for her and President Biden's reelection bid in the city.
Watch the full interview with Vice President Kamala Harris in the player above
Spectrum News' Maddie Gannon and Joseph Konig contributed to this report.