Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, has been urging Joe Biden to toughen up his rhetoric on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to reports.

Ms Harris has “on multiple occasions” advised the president and other senior US officials to address the high death toll in Gaza and the plight of survivors in addition to continuing to condemn the Hamas attacks on October 7, the New York Times reported.

The vice-president publicly demanded an “immediate cease-fire” ahead of a meeting with a member of Israel’s war cabinet, Benny Gantz, at the White House on Monday in which she “expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the recent horrific tragedy around an aid convoy in northern Gaza,” the NY Times said.

Ms Harris’s remarks are a shift in the administration’s public position on Gaza and are meant in part to address a deepening political concern for President Biden as he campaigns for re-election this year.

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