“This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilizing impact in the region,” Guterres said ahead of a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in New York.

Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a Qatar- and Egypt-brokered deal, but the Israeli regime said the agreement did not meet some of its key demands.

Israel’s war cabinet also announced that the Israeli military is pushing ahead with an assault on Rafah “in order to apply military pressure on Hamas”.

Israel waged a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas Resistance group carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel has imposed a complete siege on the densely populated territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.