Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, March 12, 2024
US national security adviser dismisses reports Biden mulling conditions on Israel military aid over Rafah as ‘uninformed speculation’
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan pours more cold water on recent reports that the White House is considering withholding aid to Israel if it moves forward with a major ground assault in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“We’re not going to engage in hypotheticals about what comes down the line and the reports that purport to describe the president’s thinking are uninformed speculation,” Sullivan says during a press briefing.
Sullivan reiterates that the US won’t support an IDF operation in Rafah unless Israel puts forward a plan to evacuate the over one million Palestinians currently sheltering in the city, which Jerusalem has not yet done.
