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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel is prepared to independently carry out an assault on Rafah after the US publicly warned them not to.

Rafah, a city currently holding at least one million displaced Palestinians, is considered to be the last holdout of Hamas fighters in the war in Gaza.

Following a meeting with Blinken, Netanyahu told the press that he was appreciative of America’s support against Hamas, but said, “we have no way to defeat Hamas without going into Rafah and eliminating the rest of the battalions there. And I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US, but if we have to – we will do it alone.”

Secretary Blinken has called for Israel not to move into Rafah, noting it would be a humanitarian catastrophe. He previously alluded that the United States has not been provided any plan for what Israel plans to do in Rafah. Secretary Blinken has also publicly pushed the urgent need to enhance aid delivery to Gaza, saying, “A hundred percent of the population of Gaza is experiencing severe levels of acute food insecurity. We cannot, we must not allow that to continue.”