The National newspaper reported, citing an informed source, that the US National Security Council denied reports about Washington’s approval of the Israeli operation in Rafah in exchange for Tel Aviv not launching a counterattack on Iran.

An unnamed source in the US National Security Council told the newspaper: “This is not true. This issue has not been discussed.”

Earlier, Qatari media spoke about such an agreement between the United States and Israel.

The Hebrew "Wala" website quoted Israeli security officials on Tuesday as saying that the Israeli army had raised, during the past hours, its readiness to launch a large-scale military attack on the border city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

The officials indicated that the army's withdrawal from areas in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, as well as other areas in the north, was aimed at redeployment for the ground operation in Rafah.

The operation raises international criticism and concern in light of the accumulation of about two million displaced people in that city out of 2.3 million people, the total population of the Gaza Strip.