The United States has hinted at disagreement with Israel over how quickly to scale down the offensive in Gaza, with President Joe Biden’s national security adviser saying such timing was now the subject of “intensive discussion” between the allies, Reuters reports.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, visited Israel on Thursday and Friday, and US officials briefed journalists that he was carrying a message to Israel to scale down the broad military campaign and transition to more narrowly targeted operations against Hamas leaders.

The New York Times quoted four US officials as saying Biden wanted that to happen in around three weeks. But speaking to reporters, Sullivan avoided a direct answer about the timing.

“There will be a transition to another phase of this war, one that is focused in more precise ways on targeting the leadership and on intelligence-driven operations,” he said.

“When exactly that happens and under exactly what conditions will be a continuing intensive discussion between the United States and Israel,” he said.