A Palestinian group issues a warning as Biden says Israel should not invade without a “credible” plan to protect civilians.

Hamas warned Israel about this a ground offensive in Rafah would jeopardize negotiations for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, as US President Joe Biden said an attack should not be carried out without a “credible” plan to protect civilians in the city.

Aid groups and foreign governments, including Israel’s main ally the United States, have expressed deep concern over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to expand ground military operations to the city in the far southern Gaza Strip.

Rafah, on the border with Egypt, is the last refuge for Palestinians fleeing Israel’s relentless bombardment elsewhere in the Gaza Strip in its four-month war against Hamas, sparked by the Palestinian group’s Oct. 7 attack.

“Any attack by the occupying army on the city of Rafah would torpedo the exchange negotiations,” a Hamas leader told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu has ordered troops to prepare to enter the city, which 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 phased framework agreement to release the remaining hostages had made “real progress” in recent weeks.

The hostage release deal was the main topic of a 45-minute phone call between Biden and Netanyahu on Sunday, although there were still some “significant” gaps to fill, the official said, adding: “It’s pretty much there.”

Biden told Netanyahu that the advance into Gaza should not continue until there is a “credible” plan to “ensure the safety” of people seeking refuge there, the White House said.

Some 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded into Rafah, many living in tents, while food, water and medicine are becoming 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 who wished to leave.

Asked where they might go, Netanyahu said: “You know, the areas we cleared north of Rafah, there are a lot of areas there. “But we are working on a detailed plan.”

“Targeted raids”

Mediators held new talks in Cairo about halting the fighting and releasing some of the 132 hostages Israel says are still in Gaza, including 29 who are believed to be dead.

According to Israeli authorities, Hamas captured around 240 hostages on October 7th. Dozens were released during a week-long ceasefire in November.

Hamas’s military wing said on Sunday that two hostages had been killed and eight others seriously injured in Israeli bombings in recent days.

Netanyahu has faced calls for early elections and increasing protests over his government’s failure to bring hostages home.

North of Rafah, the Israeli military said on Sunday that troops were carrying out “targeted raids” west of Khan Younis, the capital of the southern Gaza Strip, while Hamas reported violent clashes and said Rafah was also hit by airstrikes.

Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 resulted in the deaths of about 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel responded with a relentless offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, killing at least 28,176 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The Israeli attack has reduced much of the territory to rubble and displaced more than 80 percent of the population.