US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Israeli ground assault in Rafah will cause casualties “beyond what’s acceptable”, AFP reports.

“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” Blinken told the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona, the AFP news agency reports.

Blinken also said that Israel has not yet presented a plan to protect civilians during its promised ground operation against the city in southern Gaza.