US says Rafah offensive would not eliminate Hamas as death toll tops 35,000

An all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke "anarchy" without eliminating Hamas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, as death toll in the war had exceeded 35,000 people.

Separately, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan emphasized Washington's concerns about an offensive in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi.

"Mr. Sullivan reiterated President Biden's longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah, where over one million people have taken shelter," a White House readout of the phone call said.

It said Hanegbi "confirmed that Israel is taking U.S. concerns into account," but did not elaborate.

Israeli bombardment in the eastern parts of Rafah have already sent 300,000 Gazans fleeing.

The United States and other countries, as well as top U.N. officials, have warned that a full-out assault on Rafah could have a disastrous impact on the refugees driven there by fighting elsewhere in Gaza, many of them living in desperate conditions.

Israel has said it is attempting to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.

But Blinken, when asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" whether the U.S. concurred with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that Israeli forces had killed more civilians than Hamas militants since the war began, replied simply, "Yes, we do."

Blinken said a full-scale invasion could come "potentially at an incredibly high cost" and that even a massive assault on Rafah was unlikely to end the Hamas threat.

"Israel's on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by...