The United States argued yesterday that any ceasefire in Gaza decreed by Israel would benefit the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, at a time when calls for a humanitarian truce are mounting.

A ceasefire "would give Hamas the opportunity to rest, retool and prepare to continue launching terrorist attacks against Israel," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, as quoted by Lusa.

"One can fully understand why this situation is intolerable for Israel, as it would be for any country that has suffered such a brutal terrorist attack and continues to see the threat of terrorism on its border," he noted.

Earlier, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the leaders of the 27 could support a call for a "humanitarian pause" to encourage the arrival of aid to the Gaza Strip, besieged by the Israeli army.

"I think the idea of a humanitarian pause to facilitate the arrival of aid (...) is something that leaders will support," Borrell said after a meeting in Luxembourg with the foreign ministers of the EU member states.

The American spokesman also indicated that the United States was working separately to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and that the American special envoy, David Satterfield, was working intensively on the ground.

The United States has also sent several military advisers to Israel, the White House said on Monday.

These advisers have experience with "the kind of operations that Israel is currently conducting and may conduct in the future," said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, launching thousands of rockets and incursions by armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.

In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, the movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and which is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States, bombing several of the group's infrastructures in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total siege on the territory, cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies.

The Rafah terminal, in southern Gaza and the only passage to Egypt, will allow humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinian territory.

The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries, both military and civilian, in the two territories.