'Smashing into Rafah' will not defeat Hamas, says White House's Kirby

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that if Israel undertakes a major invasion of Rafah, it will not advance Israel and the US's objective of defeating Hamas. 

"Smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective," Kirby said in a news briefing.

Israel has already launched an operation into Rafah, seizing the crossing between Egypt and Gaza, but Washington says this operation is not the full-scale invasion that it is opposed to.