US rules out support for Israel PM Netayahu's Rafah assault plan amid Gaza truce talks

Israel-Hamas war: The fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants continued around Gaza's strategically located Al-Shifa hospital after Israelclaimed to have taken control of the medical facility on Tuesday (March 19) following an early morning raid on Monday. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to press on for an assault on Rafah, US President Joe Biden warned that an Israeli operation in Rafah would deepen anarchy in Gaza.

The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in a routine briefing that Israel and the United Stateswould have a comprehensive discussion on the way forward in Gaza amid a raging humanitarian crisis due tosix months of fierce state of war that has killed over 32,000 Palestinians so far.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

However, the United States expressed discontentment over Israel's purported lack of clarity over the situation in Gaza.

Also watch |Israel launches overnight raid on Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital

"Israel cleared Shifa once. Hamas came back into Shifa, which raises questions about how to ensure a sustainable campaign against Hamas so that it cannot regenerate, cannot retake territory,"Sullivan said during the press briefing.

Sullivan also repeated the US argument that a major ground operation in Rafah would be a mistake, adding: "It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally."

He added: "A military plan cannot succeed without an integrated humanitarian plan and political plan."

"From our perspective, it is connecting Israel’s objective to a sustainable strategy. That is the final thing we need to focus on right now, rather than have Israel go smash into Rafah. That is what the president talked to the prime minister about today," Sullivan said.

Gaza truce is 'still possible': United States

The US National Security Advisersaid that Hamas has added new conditions to the latest hostage deal framework.

"Hamas has put a proposal on the table — this is after Israel, working with Qatar, Egypt and the United States, had indicated a willingness to move forward on a six-week ceasefire in return for the release of a number of hostages, leading to further phases from there, and Hamas had given us nothing for quite some time,"Sullivan said, repeating that there could be a deal immediately if Hamas would just agree to release roughly 40 Israeli female, elderly, and wounded hostages.

Instead, Hamas "put a proposal on the table where they’ve added a series of other conditions… The Israeli government has responded by saying they can’t just accept that. They regard some of those conditions as going too far, but that’s what a negotiation is about," the US national security adviser continued whilenoting that negotiating teams are in Qatar trying to secure a deal.

"We believe that those discussions are very alive, that a deal is possible," Sullivan said.