Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel remained determined to send troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering, and would do so without US backing if necessary, Reuters reports.

Netanyahu said in a statement he had told visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that there was no way to defeat Hamas without going into Rafah. “And I told him that I hope we will do it with the support of the US, but if we have to — we will do it alone,” he said.