WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday condemned a reported Hamas attack on Israeli soldiers in Gaza as a violation of the newly reached humanitarian ceasefire and called for the release of an abducted Israeli soldier.

"That would be a rather barbaric violation of the ceasefire agreement," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on CNN.

Earnest called on Hamas to release the abducted Israeli soldier and said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had already spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the next steps in the Gaza crisis.