US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday he doubted Israel would invade Rafah before new talks next week in Washington, which has raised concerns over an assault on the packed Gaza city.
Blinken said that Israel has not communicated a date for an operation to the United States and that an Israeli delegation would visit Washington next week to hear US concerns.
Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas said that an Israeli proposal it received from Qatari and Egyptian mediators did not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions.
However, the group added in a statement it would study the proposal, which it described as "intransigent," and deliver its response to the mediators.
Israel said it was keen to reach a prisoners-for-hostages deal, by which it would free a number of Palestinians jailed in its prisons in return for the hostages in Gaza, but it wasn't ready to end the military offensive before invading Rafah.
Hamas wants any agreement to secure an end to Israel's bombardment, get Israeli forces out of Gaza and allow displaced people to return to their homes across the enclave.
Israel's indiscriminate air and ground offensive has so far killed more than 33,000 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave, mostly women and children, with thousands more missing.