Source: SAUL LOEB / Getty
On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Selma, Alabama to honor the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. During her speech in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Harris demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, calling the conflict a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
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“Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire, at least for the next six weeks,” Harris said to the thousands gathered.
Harris’ comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict come after enormous pressure on the Biden administration to demand a pause in the fighting in Gaza.
The five-month conflict, which started after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people, has raged on since Oct. 7. According to NPR, the number of Palestinians killed in the war has surpassed 30,000.
“People in Gaza are starving,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. “The conditions are inhumane, and our common humanity compels us to act.”
Source: SAUL LOEB / Getty
According to the Biden administration, Israel has essentially agreed to a six-week ceasefire, which would also include the release of hostages. Hamas has yet to sign off on the ceasefire.
“The ball is literally in the court of Hamas,” U.S. officials said Saturday.
The White House hopes to have a ceasefire deal before the start of Ramadan, which begins March 10.
Kamala Harris didn’t just use the anniversary of Bloody Sunday to speak about the potential ceasefire in Gaza. She also discussed the right to bodily autonomy, comparing it to the Civil Rights Movement.
“Freedom is fundamental to the promise of America,” said Harris.
“Freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right. This generation has fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. The government should not be telling her what to do with her body,” she said.
The historic “Selma to Montgomery marches,” the first of the three protest marches known as “Bloody Sunday,” highlighted a turbulent time of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led voter registration drives in the small town of Selma, Alabama, with the intent of combating white resistance toward African Americans gaining the right to vote in elections.
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