The UN’s secretary-general has warned that Israel’s impending ground invasion of Rafah would be “intolerable”.

Israel’s war cabinet on Monday night voted unanimously to go ahead with the planned invasion of the Gazan city, despite opposition from the US due to the likelihood of significant civilian casualties.

It comes after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, on Monday night rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas and vowed to push on into the southern Gazan city where 100,000 people were earlier in the day ordered to evacuated.

The purpose of the operation is to “apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims,” Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said in a statement.

Hamas’s latest truce offer is “far from Israel’s obligatory demands,” the statement said.

However, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Israel would also send negotiators for talks to try to find a deal that meets Israel’s demands.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general called on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to “stop the suffering”.

“This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilising impact in the region,” he said on Monday night.