The White House warns Israel about the attack on Rafah

The president has tasked his team with continuing to work with Israel to refine its strategy to inflict lasting defeat on Hamas. And I want to repeat: Permanent defeat against Hamas certainly remains Israel’s goal, and we share that goal with them. In his view, an attack on Rafah will not advance this goal and will not lead to this sustained, permanent defeat of Hamas. Our view is that Rafah operations certainly – any kind of major Rafah ground operation – would actually strengthen Hamas’s position at the negotiating table, not Israel’s. That is our view.