National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday confirmed that Marwan Issa, third in command in Hamas was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza last week.
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"Israel has made significant progress against Hamas. They have broken a significant number of the Hamas battalions, killed thousands of Hamas fighters, including senior commanders, Hamas's number three Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli operation last week, the rest of the top leaders are in hiding, likely deep in the Hamas tunnel network and justice will come for them too and we are helping to ensure that," Sullivan said in a briefing at the White House.
But Israeli officials said they do not have a 100% confirmation that Issa was killed although indications that that was the case were good. The officials said they would rather wait to be sure before coming out and declaring that Issa was eliminated.
In his briefing held shortly after Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for the first time in over a month, Sullivan said Netanyahu requested that a team from Israel would travel to D.C. to lay out plans for an assault on Rafah including members of the military and officials that would discuss the humanitarian aid situation. "Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake," Sullivan said.
The National security advisor was asked about the public feud between Biden and Netanyahu and the allegations made by both leaders that politics were motivating their statements and policies.
"From President Biden's perspective, this is not a question of politics, it is not a question of public statements it is a question of policy and strategy," he said.
Sullivan said the U.S. was hopeful that negotiations for the release of hostages would yield results.
"Those who would like to see a cease-fire in Gaza, A cease-fire is on the table today for six weeks to be built on for something more enduring, if Hamas would only release women, wounded and elderly and the fact that they would not do so says a lot to me about Hamas's regard for innocent Palestinian civilians," Sullivan said.
He also rejected Netanyahu's claims of interference by Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and others in Israeli politics.
"We don't do nearly as much as they speak into ours," he said.