Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about the killing of Hamas' top leader Yahya Sinwar in a battle with Israeli forces in Gaza, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, following a campaign rally at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kamala Harris said Thursday that Israel's killing of Hamas' top leader offers "an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza," talking plainly about next steps even as the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who gathered outside her campaign event underscored the complicated politics at play.

The Democratic presidential nominee said the war “must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

“It is time for the day after to begin,” she said, speaking from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee just moments after the White House released President Joe Biden's statement on the death of Yahya Sinwar.

The administration's response to the killing of a chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel was carefully choreographed, leaving room for the Harris to emphasize the push to end the war as she balances her loyalty to Biden. She's trying to shore up left flank voters who want to see an immediate end to the bloody conflict and have not said they will support her.

With the presidential race at razor-thin margins and the election just a few weeks away, Harris is seeking to solidify support in battleground states.

The Biden administration’s support for Israel has complicated her effort in metro Detroit, especially Dearborn, an area that is home to the nation’s largest Arab American community. The death earlier this month of a Dearborn resident killed in south Lebanon ignited anger in the traditionally Democratic area.

Speaking Thursday in Flint, Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was hopeful for an end to the violence.

“Have the hostages returned and have a solution for long-term peace in the region. That’s everything that I think is so important. And, you know, any chance that we can do that, I think would be welcomed by so many people,” she said.

At Harris' next stop in Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, students waiting for her said the end of the war was important.

William Schauberger, a 24-year-old political science major, said he wasn't optimistic.

“Neither party will do really anything about it. I mean, especially when there were, you know, massive protests. And instead of doing anything about it, and trying to secure stuff, they just tended to, you know, ignore it and ... just denounce the protests,” he said.

Harris has not proposed any policy shifts on Israel. But she has, of late, faced increasing pressure to articulate how she would govern differently from Biden.

While Biden’s favorability ratings remain underwater, some of the biggest pieces of his legislative agenda, from infrastructure to lowering the costs of some prescription drugs, are popular, and signaling any daylight with the president on foreign policy at a time of global crises could be seen as reckless.

Biden's written statement on Sinwar's death — released as he was traveling to Germany for a visit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz — focused on how U.S. intelligence helped the Israelis pursue Hamas leadership and noted that Israel had every right to “eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas.”

“Today proves once again that no terrorists anywhere in the world can escape justice, no matter how long it takes,” Biden said.

He said he would speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people.”

Israeli officials said Sinwar was killed in a battle with Israeli forces in Gaza. Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the killing a “military and moral achievement for the Israeli army.”

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Karnowski reported from La Crosse. Associated Press Writer Joey Cappelletti in Flint, Michigan, contributed to this report.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024