Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night promised a “strong” operation in Rafah “after” allowing civilians to leave the city, located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, AFP reported.

“We will fight until we achieve total victory, which means a powerful operation in Rafah after allowing civilians to leave the war zones,” he said in a message in Hebrew on his official Telegram account.

Netanyahu’s comments came as truce talks between Israel and Hamas continued in Cairo on Wednesday amid fears of an Israeli operation against the city of Rafah.

According to the UN, some 1.4 million people, mostly displaced by the war, are in the city, which has been turned into a giant camp and the only major urban center in the territory where the army has not yet launched an assault.

However, on the night of Sunday to Monday, the Israeli army conducted an operation to free two Israeli hostages, resulting in “about a hundred deaths” on the Palestinian side.

“This week we freed two of our hostages in a thorough military operation. To date, we have released 112 of our hostages through a combination of strong military pressure and firm negotiations,” Netanyahu added in a video late Wednesday.

Hamas calls for “total ceasefire”

“This is the key to the release of our remaining hostages: strong military pressure and very tough negotiations. In this regard, I insist that Hamas abandon its illusory demands. When he gives up his demands, we will be able to move forward,” he said.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on Hamas’ demands, but according to sources in the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas is demanding a “total ceasefire” and Israel is demanding a ceasefire accompanied by the release of 130 hostages still being held in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on his rivals Hamas to “quickly” conclude a cease-fire agreement, particularly to “avoid an attack” on Rafah that would “result in thousands of casualties.”

UN fears “massacre”

The Israeli military operation in Rafah “could lead to a massacre in Gaza,” Martin Griffiths, the UN’s humanitarian chief, warned in a statement on Tuesday, AFP reported.

“I sound the alarm once again: military action in Rafah could lead to a massacre in Gaza. They can also lead to the death of already fragile humanitarian operations,” he said.

The UN will not associate itself with the “forced evacuation” of the population from Rafah, the secretary-general’s spokesman warned on Monday, reiterating that there is “no safe place” in the Gaza Strip to move the population.

The United States remains opposed to Israel’s large-scale military operation in Rafah in the absence of measures to protect civilians in the Palestinian town on the border with Egypt, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.

“Without a credible plan for this that they (Israel) are able to implement, we do not support a large-scale military operation” in Rafah, he told reporters.