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The United States said Monday that it believes Israel remains under the threat of attack from Iran and its proxies, after Lebanon's Hezbollah targeted Israel with hundreds of rockets and drones over the weekend in retaliation for Israel's assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander.
"I would point you to some of the public comments that have been made by Iranian leaders and others ... we continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we ... remain well-postured to be able to support Israel's defense as well as to protect our forces should they be attacked," Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told journalists.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Italian counterpart that Iran's response to last month's killing of Hamas' political chief in Tehran "will be inevitable, precise, and calculated."
A statement from Iran's foreign ministry on Monday describing a phone call between Araghchi and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also reported Araghchi saying Iran does not seek to escalate tensions but does not fear it.
Iran has blamed Israel for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, while Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
The killing helped raise fears of a wider regional conflict along with the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip and daily cross-border fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Araghchi's comments followed a spike in Israel-Hezbollah fighting on Sunday during which each side launched hundreds of strikes.
"We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting. "This is another step towards changing the situation in the north and safely returning our residents to their homes. And, I repeat, this is not the final word."
Hezbollah described its return attacks against Israel as the first stage of retaliatory strikes for the Israeli assassination last month in Beirut of Fouad Shukur, a Hezbollah commander Israel blamed for an attack that killed 12 children and teenagers on a football field. Hezbollah said new attacks would target sites deeper into Israel but that "military operations for today have been completed."
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered two aircraft carrier strike groups to be positioned in the Middle East, the Pentagon said Sunday, strengthening the U.S. military presence amid the regional tensions.
The announcement, made in a summary of a call between Austin and Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant, represents a shift. The Pentagon had initially deployed the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the region with a plan to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, is on a visit to the region that is expected to take him to Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
In the Gaza Strip, medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said late Sunday that Israel's evacuation orders "have left hundreds of thousands [of] displaced people with a so-called 'humanitarian zone' of just 41 square km (16 square miles) in which to seek shelter."
The latest call for people to evacuate included the Deir Al-Balah area in central Gaza, near the Al-Aqsa hospital where thousands of people have sought shelter amid the war.
Doctors Without Borders said an explosion hit 250 meters (273 yards) from the hospital, and that the group is now considering suspending wound care services.
"All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients' access to medical care," the group said in a statement.
Days of talks to try to achieve progress in cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas ended Sunday in Cairo without an agreement.
A senior U.S. official described the talks as "constructive" and said talks involving lower-level officials will continue in the coming days to try to work through the outstanding issues.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have worked for months to try to broker an agreement, with a focus on a multi-stage cease-fire that includes a halt in fighting, the release of hostages held by Hamas, the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and a surge of humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.