Any move by Israel to occupy the Gaza Strip again would be a "big mistake," US President Joe Biden said in an interview released on Sunday, as Israeli troops prepared for a ground invasion.
Israel, seeking vengeance for an attack by Hamas on October 7, has declared war on the militant group, launching a relentless bombing campaign and warning more than a million people in northern Gaza to move south ahead of the operation.
Asked by CBS news program 60 Minutes if he would support any occupation of Gaza by the American ally, Biden replied: "I think it'd be a big mistake."
Hamas "don't represent all the Palestinian people," he continued.
But invading and "taking out the extremists" is a "necessary requirement," he added.
The Hamas attack saw fighters shoot, stab and burn to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. Israel's reprisal attacks in the days since have flattened neighbourhoods and killed at least 2,670 people in Gaza, the majority ordinary Palestinians.
Israel has faced grave warnings about the implications of putting boots on the ground in Gaza, with aid groups warning of a humanitarian disaster, fears of the conflict escalating, and the challenges of separating militants from civilians in the impoverished, densely occupied territory.
Israel first occupied Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War, and it was only fully returned to Palestinians in 2005.
A year later, Israel imposed an air, land and sea blockade on the 140 square mile (362 square kilometer) strip of land, which is also bordered by Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2007 Israel tightened the blockade after Hamas took control of Gaza from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
When asked if Hamas -- whom Biden described as "a bunch of cowards" -- must be eliminated entirely, he replied: "Yes I do."
"But there needs to be a Palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state," he continued, reiterating the long-standing US call for a two-state solution.
60 Minutes journalist Scott Pelley also asked Biden if he could foresee US troops joining the war.
"I don't think that's necessary," Biden, who pulled US troops out of Afghanistan and has insisted that none will be sent to aid Ukraine as it holds off a Russian invasion, replied.
"Israel has one of the finest fighting forces in the country. I guarantee we're gonna provide them everything they need," he said.
The United States has already deployed two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean in a powerful show of support for Israel.
An earlier report adds: The United States (US) said Sunday it fears an escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas and the prospect of Iran getting directly involved.
Speaking on CBS, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border and added,
"We can't rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way.
We have to prepare for every possible contingency."
Iran is a long-time backer of the militant group Hamas and of Hezbollah in
Lebanon, providing them funding and weapons.
"That is a risk and that's a risk that we have been mindful of since the
start," Sullivan said of the prospect of Iran getting involved in the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza last weekend.
"It's why the president moves so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean, to get aircraft into the Gulf, because he sent a very clear message to any state or any actor that would seek to exploit this situation," Sullivan added.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the deployment of the second aircraft carrier on Saturday "to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas's attack."
In the eastern Mediterranean the carrier USS Eisenhower and its accompanying ships will join the USS Gerald R. Ford, which was dispatched after the Hamas attack on October 7.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, also said that the United States is concerned about a new front in the war opening on the Israeli border with Lebanon.
"We don't want to see another terrorist group like Hezbollah widening this and opening fronts to distract against the fight against Hamas," Kirby said on the "Fox News Sunday" program.
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks on northern Israel since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.
