Joe Biden has said allowing the conflict to continue in Gaza would “give Hamas what they seek”.
The US president said Hamas launched its 7 October because it fears “nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace”.
“To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
His tweet caused confusion, with some questioning whether Biden was signalling a softening of the US stance on the conflict.
Biden has previously opposed a ceasefire, saying that it would not bring peace between Israel and Hamas.
“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace,” he wrote in a Washington Post opinion article earlier this month.
But a senior official from Biden’s administration told Jewish Insider that his tweet was “not a change in policy”, adding that it came from a longer speech he delivered last week.
“He meant that we can’t lose hope for peace, ultimately, in the region, that it’s still incredibly important that we continue to lay the groundwork for, and create the conditions for, a lasting peace, and that involves a two-state solution,” the official said.