Blinken: Long-Term Goal Is the Defeat of Hamas

EXCERPT:

BLINKEN: “Again, we — what I shared and I think what they heard from President Biden as well directly is we have the same goals. The defeat of Hamas, Israel’s long-term security. But a major ground operation in Rafah is not, in our judgment, the way to achieve it. And we’ve been very clear about that. But, most important, we have a senior team coming to Washington next week, we’ll all be taking part in those discussions, we’ll be able to lay out for them in detail. I started to do that today, but it’s important that the teams with all the expertise lay out in detail how those goals can best be accomplished with an integrated humanitarian military and political plan. We’ll put all that on the table. Of course, we’ll hear from them, too. And we’ll take it to next week. Thanks.”