GAZA: The US State Department has said it does not support a ground offensive in Gaza’s Rafah, warning that, if not properly planned, such an operation risks “disaster”.

According to AFP, the United States is Israel’s main international backer, providing it with billions of dollars in military aid.

But in a sign of his growing frustration with Israel’s leadership, President Joe Biden issued his strongest criticism yet of the conduct of the offensive, describing the retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 attack as going too far.

“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top,” the US president said.

“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving… in trouble and dying, and it’s got to stop.”

Israeli air strikes pummel densely crowded Rafah after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his troops to “prepare to operate” in the southern border city that has become a last holdout for displaced Palestinians, AFP reports.

Netanyahu’s planned offensive on Rafah, where an estimated 1.3 million people have sought refuge, has drawn condemnation from rights groups and Washington, while Palestinians have said they have nowhere left to retreat.

Witnesses reported new strikes on Rafah earlier today, after the Israeli military intensified air raids, with fears rising among Palestinians of a coming ground invasion.

“We don’t know where to go,” said Mohammad al-Jarrah, a Palestinian who was displaced from further north to Rafah.

Netanyahu told military officials on Friday to “submit to the cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions” of Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah, his office said.