WH NSC Spox Kirby: Not Seeing Signs Of All Out War In Northern Israel

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has told reporters that the White House is, “not seeing signs of all out war in northern Israel,” following an Israeli drone strike in Eastern Lebanon today that killed a commander in the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Group.

• Kirby said that President Biden is, “isolating as appropriate with COVID-19,” and is “kept up to speed on national security developments," and there is, “every expectation” that Biden will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he is in Washington D.C. July 22-25.
• Kirby says the US wants to see the “Rafah border crossing open to allow humanitarian aid flow,” and notes that “reports of civilian casualties [in Gaza] give us great concern.”
• Bloomberg reported this afternoon that Israeli officials are considering transferring control of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing to the European Union and Palestinians, according to people familiar with the matter.
• A US official told Reuters a short time ago that Middle East envoy Brett McGurk is travelling to the region today for consultations on the Gaza conflict in the UAE and Jordan.
• Barack Ravid at Axios reports that in the two weeks since Netanyahu presented new demands to the ceasefire plan, “the negotiations on the hostage deal entered an almost complete standstill.”
• Ravid adds that, “Senior Israeli officials estimate that Netanyahu will want to confirm the official Israeli position [on the ceasefire deal] before leaving for the US next Sunday, as well as send a delegation for talks in Qatar or Egypt at the same time as his visit to Washington.”