Palestinian group issues warning as Biden says Israel should not invade without a “credible” plan to protect civilians.
Hamas warned Israel that a ground offensive in Rafah would jeopardize negotiations on a truce and the exchange of captives and prisoners, while US President Joe Biden said an assault should not be carried out without a “credible” plan. ” to protect civilians in the city.
Aid groups and foreign governments, including Israel's key ally the United States, have expressed deep concern over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to extend ground military operations to the southernmost Gaza city.
Rafah, on the border with Egypt, is the last refuge for Palestinians fleeing Israel's relentless bombing elsewhere in the Gaza Strip in its four-month war against Hamas, sparked by the Palestinian group's attack on October.
“Any attack by the occupation army on the city of Rafah would torpedo the exchange negotiations,” a Hamas leader told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu has told troops to prepare to enter the city that is now home to more than half of Gaza's total population, raising concerns about the impact on displaced civilians.
A senior Biden administration official said Sunday that negotiators working on a gradual framework agreement to free the remaining hostages have made “real progress” in recent weeks.
The hostage release deal was the focus of a 45-minute phone call between Biden and Netanyahu on Sunday, although there were still some “significant” gaps to close, the official said, adding: “It's pretty much there.”
Biden told Netanyahu that the push into Gaza should not proceed without a “credible” plan to ensure “the safety” of people sheltering there, the White House said.
Around 1.4 million Palestinians have crowded into Rafah, many of them living in tents as food, water and medicine become increasingly scarce.
Netanyahu had told US broadcaster ABC News that the Rafah operation would continue until Hamas was eliminated, adding that Israel would provide “safe passage” to civilians wishing to leave.
Asked where they could go, Netanyahu said: “You know, the areas that we have cleared north of Rafah, there are many areas there. But we are developing a detailed plan.”
'Selective raids'
Mediators held new talks in Cairo for a pause in fighting and the release of some of the 132 hostages Israel says are still in Gaza, including 29 believed to be dead.
Hamas took around 240 hostages on October 7, according to Israeli authorities. Dozens of people were freed during a week-long truce in November.
Hamas's military wing said on Sunday that two hostages had been killed and eight others seriously wounded in Israeli bombings in recent days.
Netanyahu has faced calls for early elections and growing protests over his administration's failure to bring the hostages home.
On Sunday, north of Rafah, the Israeli military said troops were carrying out “targeted raids” in western Khan Younis, the main southern Gaza city, while Hamas reported violent clashes and said airstrikes They also affected Rafah.
Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel killed some 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel has responded with a relentless offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that, according to the territory's Health Ministry, has killed at least 28,176 people, mostly women and children.
The Israeli attack has left much of the territory in ruins and displaced more than 80 percent of the population.
