The US government does not oppose a ground operation into the Gaza Strip but prefers Israel refrain from embarking on one, US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said Friday.
In their conversation on Thursday, “President [Barack] Obama told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas’s rockets,” Shapiro told Hebrew news website NRG. “If it’s possible to stop the rocket fire [from Gaza] without a ground incursion, that’s preferable because we all know the results [of such an operation.]”
“It’s not opposition to a ground operation but a willingness to talk about the consequences of such a move, ” said Shapiro.
On Thursday, the State Department blamed the current round of violence on Hamas and said the Obama administration was looking into the possibility of having Egypt, Qatar or Turkey mediate a cease-fire between the two sides.
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