White House: Israel should 'decide for themselves' on ground operation

The White House said it has had frank discussions with Israel about its pending ground invasion of Gaza, but that the timing and other details were ultimately up to Israeli officials. 

"It's our view that the [Israeli army] need to decide for themselves how they're going to conduct operations," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

"We're not in the business of dictating terms to them, and we're certainly not in the business here at the White House of previewing any future operations, one way or the other. That would be inappropriate."