As Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza on Monday US President Joe Biden emphasized the need to sustain "a continuous flow" of humanitarian assistance into Gaza in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Biden also "welcomed the release of two additional hostages from Gaza earlier today, and reaffirmed his commitment to ongoing efforts to secure the release of all the remaining hostages taken by Hamas," the White House added.
He also updated the prime minister on "US support for Israel and ongoing efforts at regional deterrence, to include new US military deployments," according to the White House.
Pentagon rushes defence, advisers to Middle East
The Pentagon has sent military advisers, including a Marine Corps general versed in urban warfare, to Israel to aid in its war planning and is speeding multiple sophisticated air defence systems to the Middle East days ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza.
One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served in Fallujah, Iraq, during some of the most heated urban combat there, according to a US official who was not authorized to discuss Glynn's role and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Glynn will also be advising on how to mitigate civilian casualties in urban warfare, the official said.
Israel is preparing a large-scale ground operation in an environment in which Hamas militants have had years to prepare tunnel networks and set traps throughout northern Gaza's dense urban blocks. Glynn and the other military officers who are advising Israel have experience that is appropriate to the sorts of operations that Israel is conducting, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The advisers will not be engaged in the fighting, the unidentified US official said.
The military team is one of many fast-moving pieces the Pentagon is getting in place to try and prevent the already intense conflict between Israel and Hamas from becoming a wider war. It also is trying to protect US personnel, who in the last few days have come under repeated attacks that the Pentagon has said were likely endorsed by Iran.
Kirby said Iran was "in some cases actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good, or for that of Iran. We know that Iran's goal is to maintain some level of deniability here. But we're not going to allow them to do that.
(with inputs from Reuters/ AP via PTI)