Doha: A Hamas official on Thursday accused Israel of carrying out incursions in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah to block talks seeking a truce in the seven-month war in the Palestinian territory.
Israel has defied international objections and sent tanks into Rafah, which is crowded with Palestinian civilians sheltering near the Egyptian border, seizing early on Tuesday a crossing that is the main conduit for aid into the besieged territory.
Israel's military operations in Rafah and its border crossing "aim to obstruct the efforts of the mediators", Ezzat al Rishq said in a statement.
Hamas, however, was still committed to "accepting the (ceasefire) proposal presented by the mediators", he said.
The official said a Hamas delegation sent to the talks in Cairo had departed and was travelling back to the Qatari capital Doha.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months.
Talks involving Qatari, US and Hamas delegations aimed at cementing a long-stalled ceasefire deal were to continue on Thursday in Cairo, said Al Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian intelligence.
It added, citing an informed source, that Islamic Jihad, which is fighting alongside Hamas, and the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were also participating and "are open" to reaching a deal.
Top Israeli officials criticised US President Joe Biden on Thursday for threatening to stop certain arms supplies to Israel if it invades the crowded Gaza city of Rafah.
"This is a difficult and very disappointing statement to hear from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war," Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said on public radio in Israel's first reaction to Biden's warning.
Israel has defied international objections by sending in tanks and conducting "targeted raids" in the eastern areas of Rafah.
It says Rafah is home to Hamas's last remaining battalions but the city on the border with Egypt is also crammed with displaced Palestinian civilians.
"If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used... to deal with the cities," Biden told CNN, in his starkest warning to Israel since the start of the war.
"Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs," Biden said. "It's just wrong."
Erdan said Biden's comments would be seen by Israel's foes Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah as "something that gives them hope to succeed".
"If Israel is restricted from entering an area as important and central as Rafah where there are thousands of terrorists, hostages and leaders of Hamas, how exactly are we supposed to achieve our goals?" he said.
"This is not a defensive weapon. This is about certain offensive bombs. In the end the State of Israel will have to do what it thinks needs to be done for the security of its citizens."
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his government would pursue its goals in Gaza despite the US threat.
"We will achieve complete victory in this war despite President Biden's push back and arms embargo," he said in a statement. — Agencies
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