Hamas Cannot Govern Gaza In Future, White House Says

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday Washington did not believe Hamas could be involved in the future governance of Gaza when the war is over.

Kirby also said that despite the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, the United States did not believe now was the time for a general ceasefire, but that humanitarian pauses in hostilities were necessary.

Israel sent ground forces into Hamas-ruled Gaza late last week after weeks of air and artillery strikes in retaliation for the surprise Hamas attack in which 1,400 Israelis, mainly civilians, were killed in a single day, Israeli officials say.

The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians in the narrow coastal enclave, including 3,648 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes since Oct. 7.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel and Jordan on Friday, the State Department said. His trip will include talks with Netanyahu for an update of Israel’s military objectives, it said.

Despite the breakthrough on the humanitarian front, Israeli war planes, naval boats and artillery pounded Gaza on Wednesday, inflicting scores more casualties among the civilian population, Palestinian residents said.

Hospitals struggled to cope amid shutdowns forced by shortages in fuel, which Israel has refused to let humanitarian convoys take into the shattered enclave citing concern it would be diverted to Hamas fighters.

Medical student Ezzedine Lulu, working at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, filmed himself walking through corridors filled with sleeping children sheltering from the bombardment.

“I can heal the wounds, I can stop the bleeding, I cannot heal the cold of these children’s bodies. I see them shaking while they are sleeping, they have nothing to cover themselves with. Winter is coming … Stop the inhumanity,” he said.

The desperate humanitarian conditions have caused concern across the world as food, fuel, drinking water and medicine run short.

Jordan, one of a handful of Arab states to have normalised relations with Israel, said on Wednesday it was pulling out its ambassador from Tel Aviv until Israel ended its assault on Gaza.

A Western official said the evacuation deal was not linked to other issues, such as the release of about 240 hostages held by Hamas since the Oct. 7 assault, or a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting which many countries have called for but which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.