President has tasked his team to continue to work with Israel to refine their strategy to inflict an enduring defeat on Hamas. And I want to repeat that: An enduring defeat on Hamas certainly remains the Israeli goal, and we share that goal with them. Smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective, will not get to that sustainable, enduring defeat of Hamas. Our view is that Rafah operations certainly — any kind of major Rafah ground operation would actually strengthen Hamas’s hands at the negotiating table, not Israel’s. That’s our view.

Source: New York Times May 10, 2024 03:52 UTC