Type safety: Unchecked cast from WebElement to List<WebElement>

My Code:- File1.java

public int isListAvailable(String locator) throws Exception {
        WebElement ele = getObject(locator);
        List<WebElement> ls = **(List<WebElement>) ele;**
        //List<WebElement> ls1 = driver.findElements((By) ele);
        //List<WebElement> ls2 = driver.findElements(ele);
        int rowCount = ls.size();
        System.out.println("Last1 row=" + rowCount);        
        return rowCount;
    }

    public WebElement getObject(String locatorKey) throws Exception {
            WebElement ele = null;
            WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 10);
            try {
                if (locatorKey.endsWith("_xpath")) {
                    ele = driver.findElement(By.xpath(prop.getProperty(locatorKey)));        wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.xpath(prop.getProperty(locatorKey))));
    }

.....
...
....

    }catch (Exception e1) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e1.printStackTrace();
    }
            return ele;
    }

File2.java (catlisting_xpath is XPATH of the elements)

    public void search_List() throws Exception {
            
            if(con.isListAvailable("catlisting_xpath") >=1)
            {
                con.infoLog("Category List is available");
            }else {
                con.infoLog("Category List is not available");
            }
        }

enter image description here

ERROR:-

java.lang.ClassCastException: class org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebElement cannot be cast to class java.util.List (org.openqa.selenium.remote.RemoteWebElement is in unnamed module of loader 'app'; java.util.List is in module java.base of loader 'bootstrap')

enter image description here

the issue is, while I run or type this above the File1.java have got a warning at List ls = (List) ele; Warning is Type safety: Unchecked cast from WebElement to List

can anyone help out, how to solve this...

WebElement ele = getObject(locator);
List<WebElement> ls = (List<WebElement>) ele;

You are casting List to WebElement and that is not valid. I believe in your getObject method you are using findElement method to identify the locator. Instead of that use findElements method to get List of WebElement

Try like below,

List<WebElement> ls = driver.findElements(By.xpath(locator));