The Biden administration tried to argue Thursday that if Israel launched an ambitious attack on Hamas in Rafah, that would strengthen Hamas, improve Hamas’s leverage in hostage negotiations, and build popular support for Hamas.
Israel launched a limited operation in Rafah this week, near the Egyptian border, as it prepares to take on the final four Hamas battalions in a town that is viewed as the last stronghold of the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that an Israeli military campaign in Rafah would “actually weaken … Israel’s security.” He also said that the U.S. had presented Israel with “a full range of policy choices” that would achieve the same goal of dismantling Hamas without entering Rafah, but did
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