(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s war cabinet on Thursday approved a “limited” expansion of the military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Kan News reported, an effort intended to avoid a head-on confrontation with US President Joe Biden.

The ramp-up in activity will proceed in a manner that shouldn’t breach the Biden administration’s red lines regarding Rafah, Kan said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter. The cabinet also renewed the mandate given previously to the Israeli negotiators involved in brokering a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.

Israel’s military said on Friday it’s conducting what it called a precise counter-terrorist operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah. The army is on a mission to destroy terrorist infrastructure and secure the area, where its forces located weapons and tunnel shafts and eliminated dozens of militants, it said.  

Biden said on Wednesday that he would halt additional shipments of offensive weapons to Israel if it launches a ground invasion of Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering. 

Netanyahu Vows Israel Will Fight Alone Even Without US Help

In an interview on Thursday, Prime Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel must go into Rafah to finish off the remaining battalions of Hamas, the US-designated terrorist group that killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 on Oct. 7. Hamas will “murder again and again” if allowed to survive in Rafah, he said.

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