While the European Union examines a request for a humanitarian halt, the United States issued a warning on Monday, saying that any truce by Israel in Gaza will help Hamas.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that a truce would "give Hamas the ability to rest, to refit, and to get ready to continue launching terrorist attacks against Israel." "It is understandable why that is an intolerable situation for Israel, just as it would be for any other country that has experienced such a horrific act of terrorism and still perceives a terrorist threat directly adjacent to its borders," the speaker remarked.