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The White House on May 9 quoted US President Joe Biden as saying that Israel's large-scale military campaign in Rafah will not advance the goal of defeating the Hamas Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to reporters, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated: "In his (Biden's) view, the Rafah offensive will not advance that goal."
According to Kirby, Hamas has been under intense pressure from Israel and has better options for pursuing the remnants of its leadership than a high-risk campaign against civilians. However, the White House official also noted: “The argument that we are somehow distancing ourselves from Israel or unwilling to help them defeat Hamas is inconsistent with the facts.”
Also on May 9, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced that a major military operation in Rafah would weaken Israel's position in hostage release negotiations with Hamas.
Mr. Miller emphasized that Washington continues to coordinate with Israel regarding the amendments to the ceasefire proposal proposed by Hamas, and said that the parties are gradually finalizing the text of an agreement, but this process faces "numerous difficulties".
In another development, a senior Israeli official said the same day that the current round of negotiations in Cairo (Egypt) on the agreement to release the hostages ended without a clear solution due to disagreements.
According to the official, the Israeli delegation is returning home and Tel Aviv will continue its military campaign in Rafah and other areas in the Gaza Strip as planned.
* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 9 rejected President Biden's statement that the US would temporarily suspend the supply of certain weapons to Israel if it attacked Rafah, affirming that the country is ready to act independently if necessary.
Prime Minister Netanyahu stated: “As I said, if necessary, we will fight with our bare hands… But we have more than that,” and affirmed that “we will win together.”
On the same day, the spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) - Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari - affirmed that the country's army has enough weapons needed for operations in Rafah and other planned campaigns.
Earlier, on May 8, President Biden announced that he would stop providing artillery shells and other weapons to Israel to conduct a large-scale military operation in Rafah - where more than 1 million Palestinians have been temporarily sheltering since the conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out last October. On the same day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the US had stopped a shipment of ammunition to Israel, demonstrating Washington's opposition to Israel's military operation in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip.
