President Biden’s national security adviser advised Israel on Thursday to end its large-scale ground campaign in the Gaza Strip and move to a more targeted phase of the war against Hamas, US officials said.

Jake Sullivannational security adviser, he did not elaborate on the timetable during his meetings on Thursday. But according to US officials, cited by the NYT, Biden wants Israel to switch to more precise tactics within three weeks or soon after.

The new phase envisioned by the Americans will include smaller groups of elite forces e.gThey will move in and out of population centers in Gaza, carrying out more precise missions to find and kill Hamas leaders, rescue hostages and destroy tunnels, the officials said.

The call for a change in tactics comes as differences between the United States and Israel have widened due to the disastrous conditions in Gaza.

Biden said this week that Israel began to lose international support because of it “indiscriminate bombing” of Gazathus making a harsher assessment than his previous public statements urging Israel to show greater care to protect civilians.

Sullivan, who was in Israel on Thursday, spoke of a possible transition “in the near futurebut I don’t want to put a time stamp,” according to White House spokesman John Kirby.

Shortly after the New York Times published the discussions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying that “he had made it clear that Israel will continue the war until we complete all of its objectives.”

American officials said that the biden administration understands and accepts that israel’s efforts to eliminate the leaders of hamas will continue for monthseven after switching from higher to lower intensity businesses.

However, the differences between the United States and Israel have expanded in recent weeks on Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas and the post-war settlement for the Gaza Strip.

“I want them to focus on how to save civilian lives”Mr. Biden said Thursday after a speech on prescription drug costs at the National Institutes of Health. “Not to stop going after Hamas, but to be more careful.”