The Biden administration is urging Israel to rethink its plans for a major ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and instead opt for a more “surgical” operation involving targeted raids, The Washington Post has reported.

Citing five US officials familiar with the discussions, the report said the US was advising Israel to conduct an operation “using aircraft and special operations forces carrying out precise, targeted raids on high-value Hamas targets and infrastructure”.

The Post said the officials “increasingly doubt” that a full groundassault would achieve “Israel’s stated goal of eliminating Hamas”.

One of the officials was quoted as saying that they were also concerned that it could “derail negotiations to release nearly 200 hostages, particularly as diplomats think they have made ‘significant’ advances in recent days to free a number of them, potentially including some Americans”.