Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he had told the United States that he was against the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any postwar scenario.
The announcement exposes what has become a wide rift between the close allies three months into the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Netanyahu's remarks drew an immediate scolding from the White House.
"We obviously see it differently," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
Netanyahu spoke just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel would never have "genuine security" without a pathway toward Palestinian independence.
Earlier this week, the White House also announced that it was the "right time" for Israel to lower the intensity of its devastating military offensive in Gaza.
In a nationally televised news conference, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone, repeatedly saying that Israel would not halt its offensive until it realizes its goal of destroying Hamas.
He rejected claims by a growing chorus of Israeli critics that those goals are not achievable, vowing to press ahead for many months. "We will not settle for anything short of an absolute victory," Netanyahu said.
More than 24,600 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched relentless bombardment and a ground offensive in the enclave after a surprise Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7.
Some 85% of the narrow coastal territory's 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and the United Nations says a quarter of the population is starving due to Israel's blockade.
The staggering cost of the war has led to increasing calls from the international community to halt the offensive.
After initially giving Israel wall-to-wall support in the early days of the conflict, the U.S. has begun to express misgivings and urged Netanyahu to spell out his vision for postwar Gaza.
The U.S. has said the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which governs semi-autonomous zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, should be "revitalized" and return to Gaza. Hamas ousted the authority from Gaza in 2007.
The U.S. has also called for steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Palestinians seek Gaza, the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem for their state. Those areas were occupied by Israel in 1967.
Speaking Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blinken said the two-state solution was the best way to protect Israel, unify moderate Arab countries and isolate Israel's arch-enemy, Iran.
Without a "pathway to a Palestinian state," he said, Israel would not "get genuine security."
At the same conference, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said the kingdom is ready to establish full relations with Israel as part of a larger political agreement. "But that can only happen through peace for the Palestinians, through a Palestinian state," he said.
Netanyahu, who leads a far-right government opposed to Palestinian statehood, on Thursday repeated his longstanding opposition to a two-state solution. He said a Palestinian state would become a launching pad for attacks on Israel.
He said in any future arrangement, Israel "must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River," adding: "That collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can we do?"
"This truth I tell to our American friends, and I put the brakes on the attempt to coerce us to a reality that would endanger the state of Israel," he said.
The comments prompted an immediate rebuke from the White House. Kirby said that President Joe Biden would "not stop working" toward a two-state solution.
