The US warned Monday that any Israeli truce in Gaza will help Hamas, as the European Union explores a humanitarian halt.
A cease-fire would “give Hamas the ability to rest, refit, and get ready to continue launching terrorist attacks against Israel,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“You can understand perfectly clearly why that’s an intolerable situation for Israel, as it would be an intolerable situation for any country that has suffered such a brutal terrorist attack and continues to see the terrorist threat right on its border,” he said.
Miller stated that the US was working separately to ensure a flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, with a US envoy on the ground working “intensively” on aid.
Earlier Monday, EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell said he expected the bloc’s leaders to support a demand for a cease-fire to let supplies in.
“I believe that the idea of a humanitarian pause to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid, which would allow displaced persons to find shelter, is something that the leaders will support,” Borrell said after talks with EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.