US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said has said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated US opposition to an Israeli attack on Gaza city of Rafah in talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to press ahead.

Blinken “reiterated the United States’ clear position on Rafah,” Miller said.

Blinken, on his seventh trip to the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, met Netanyahu for two and a half hours at his Jerusalem office, first alone and then with aides.

The US top diplomat has been hoping to push forward an Israel-Hamas deal that will see a temporary halt to fighting and the release of hostages.

Netanyahu had vowed on Tuesday to go into Rafah even if a deal is reached. Blinken discussed the deal with Netanyahu and said “It is Hamas that is standing in the way of a ceasefire”, Miller said.

Blinken has also been pushing for more aid to enter Gaza.

The Gaza war started after Islamic terror outfit Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians.