White House warns Israel against 'smashing' into Rafah

The White House on Thursday warned Israel against "smashing" into the southern city of Rafah and repeated a threat to withhold certain weapons from Israeli forces in the event of an operation there.

John Kirby, the national security spokesperson at the White House, told reporters that Israel has effectively eliminated military leaders and units of Hamas, a fact he said changed the calculus of how Israeli soldiers should approach the rest of the fighting in Gaza.

Kirby argued...